


He's With Me

by UsagiTsuki181



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Author was Sleep Deprived When Thought of This, Multi, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Protective Reborn (Reborn), Rape Recovery, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 21:42:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16751989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsagiTsuki181/pseuds/UsagiTsuki181
Summary: Reborn had been hired out to kill a rather renowned rapist, what he had told the woman that hired him he wouldn't need to be paid for killing, as ridding the world of such scum was reward enough on its own, he felt. He still got his pay, as she was a stubborn club owner, said club of hers being that freak's hunting ground for his victims, what she couldn't stand when that was found out.When Reborn finally found the sick freak? He wasn't alone ...Alternatively, Skull hadn't thought his night could get any worse than when he pulled up into the parking lot of a rather famous club that he wanted to spend his "me time" at, only for the back tire of his motorcycle to blow out. He was so wrong ...





	1. He's Not a Toy

“I thought you said you loved your nights to end _a little bit nasty_ ,” he could hear being sneered as he came closer to the target’s location. Hurrying his steps, but careful to not reveal himself and spook the target in running off, or rather, _doing something completely regretful_ before running off, Reborn came to the corner just before where the target was, was with his next victim.

Cautiously, Reborn snuck a discreet peek around the corner, and that was when Reborn saw just _who_ the creep had pinned against the wall, rutting against like an animal in heat - and if Reborn hadn’t been pissed off before by knowing he hadn’t been able to get to the man in time before he grabbed himself another victim, seeing _Skull_ as the victim of this _morto che cammina_?!

Reborn saw _red_ , which was ironic, considering how his eyes blazed golden yellow. How _dare_ he?! How _DARE_ he?! The _bastardo_ had Skull pinned against the wall, the Cloud turned as so he wasn’t facing the horrid _freak_ , but smooshed up against the wall as the man dry humped his backside, both of Skull’s wrists pinned above his head by one hand, as in the other hand of the target, a gun, pointing just below Skull’s left ear, at an angle that if Skull tried escaping …

Reborn had to _really_ steel himself from doing anything too rash, considering he had seen Skull with his brain blown out once before, he _really_ didn’t want to see that again, especially considering there’d be a _great_ chance of Skull not recovering miraculously this time.

Thankful for the loud music of the club, too loud and _very_ distracting against any noise that could be heard if not focused upon finding, Reborn readied his gun, more than ready to pop a cap in that man’s head, before the _soon to be dead_ target could realize something was headed his way.

He took aim and _shot_ , **but** , instead of the man’s head, getting a good and clean instant kill in, Reborn merely shot the gun of of the man’s hand, thankful that the angle he was at allowed for him to do so without hitting Skull.

“What the - ?!” The man shouted, only to jerk back as when he’d been startled away from Skull, trying to grab for the gun to protect himself/use Skull as a shield/distraction, Reborn shot at him again, hitting the f***er’s shoulder as he stepped out from around the corner. Reborn’s eyes could be literally called _on fire_ , the amount of Sun Flames leaking through his eyes as he Raged at the - again - _dead man walking_. He had signed his own death warrant when he began his spree of raping and leaving people for dead or wishing they’d been dead, but when targeting Skull?! Targeting _Reborn’s_ **Lackey**?!

 

The damned man had given his executioner a call and _begged_ for a more painful death than what he was originally going to get.

 

Stalking forward with hatred shining brilliantly in his fully aglow eyes, Reborn wasted no time in shooting the man in his leg, sending him falling down to the floor. “I would’ve made this swift, given that I don’t like dealing with _merda_ like you on the best of nights, but considering you were forcing yourself on another when I came by?! That you were forcing yourself on _my_ -”

A disgusting mixture of tobacco and saliva was spat in Reborn’s face, infuriating the man even further, but nothing, absolutely _nothing_ could take first place over the _explosion_ of anger that came when the _f***er dead man_ said with a nasty grin, “ I’ll die gladly knowing that I f***ed _your_ **toy** , Reborn!”

His mad cackling was cut off as a bullet found itself lodged in his forehead. Reborn wouldn’t stop shooting bullets into the man, his eyes blazing nearly golden white with the ferocity of his anger, he angry at the now dead man that just _had_ to go and piss him off even further!

When the gun was emptied, the man now sporting several many holes in his body, namely in his groin area, Reborn growled as he wiped the nasty saliva off of his face, “He is _not_ a toy.”


	2. How We Hash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I got around to posting a new chapter, just not for the story I think most were expecting an update for. 
> 
> Quite honestly, school's been ... weird. I've only just started back (day 2), and am already seeing it's going to be difficult getting chapters written up and updated until things settle down. Currently, I am working on writing the chapters, but I've got little time to do so because of classes and studying in-between. Doesn't help I've got online classes, either. -_-' 
> 
> Enough of the pity party. I'm going to try to turn out as many chapters as I can before the end of January, and can only hope to meet my personally set quota by then! 
> 
> Regarding this chapter, it's about ... ten pages long on my Google Docs, and I honestly thought of turning this into two chapters, but then thought against that considering my idea for next chapter ... 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

Skull couldn’t stop his staring. He couldn’t help that he was staring, considering what just happened?

He still wasn’t sure whether to be thankful Reborn showed, or to be scared even more, because it was  _ Reborn  _ that showed. 

Oh, don’t get Skull wrong,  _ he was damn f***ing grateful  _ to no longer be molested and dry raped ( _ because if there was such a thing as “dry sex”, for f***inf course there was such a thing as dry rape _ ), but he was  _ scared _ , considering  _ he hadn’t ever seen Reborn so mad before _ . 

But of course Skull knew how greatly Reborn  _ *insert very strong word to describe Reborn’s grandstanding negativity that just can’t receive a fitting enough word for* _ those that forced themselves onto others. It was just … Skull was so used to Reborn being mad  _ at  _ him, not being mad  _ for  _ him. 

 

Skull would admit, if only to himself, that he  _ liked  _ Reborn’s being mad for him,  _ especially  _ when it was Reborn being mad for him  _ while rescuing him _ . 

 

And that leads us to where we are now. Skull staring incredulously at where Reborn had just finished  _ executing  _ that  _ freak _ ’s body. The unnecessary bullet holes now being sported by the now  _ dead freak of a f***er _ was something so  _ majorly  _ satisfying to see, in Skull’s opinion. 

“He - He had his -  _ I should’ve shot him there before shooting him dead _ ,” Reborn spat, disturbed by what it was he was now seeing as his vision was no longer clouded by his  _ anger _ , something that was so fierce it even surprised himself. 

He’d never gone off the handle like that, but like Hell he would say it  _ wasn’t  _ satisfying. The only regret he had was that he didn’t go for the groin before shooting the man dead, or just simply leaving him to die from the pain of being shot  _ thirteen times _ in the crotch. Even getting  _ grazed  _ down there would’ve been a Hell for the freak, but  _ thirteen times  _ **shot** ?! Yeah, no. 

 

Yeah, yes, Reborn wanted to watch with sadistic glee as the freak died from the pain to his  _ “weapon” _ being damaged so mercilessly. 

 

Speaking of weapons, Reborn now had to check on the  _ victim _ , considering his mind being clear now he was able to recognize  _ what should’ve been his main priority after shooting the f***er dead _ . 

 

He checked behind him, seeing Skull still there, the Cloud looking on with wide-eyes at what had happened. At the point where his …  _ captor  _ was shot away from him, Skull had lost all feeling in his legs, dropping down to the floor. He had pulled his legs up to his chest, hunching in, curling in on himself as he watched on, hearing the “conversation” that passed between executioner and the to-be-executed before Reborn fired the shot, multiple shots. 

Reborn quickly walked over to where Skull was, looking him over for any visible bruises. He couldn’t see any, but the lighting in this area was rather horrible, compared to that of the bright lights of the club’s main floor, so Reborn wasn’t so sure if there weren’t any visible bruises, or if he missed any visible bruises. 

“Can you stand?” Reborn questioned Skull as he crouched down, nearly kneeling on one knee as he went down by the Cloud’s side. Skull frowned, releasing his hold on his legs and trying to stand, only to find out that wasn’t such a good idea, his legs numb. 

“N-No,” he winced, hating this. How much more pathetic could he get, not being able to freakin’  _ stand _ ?! Reborn must think he’s so very pathetic right now.  _ ‘I’m such a disgrace …’  _

Reborn stared at Skull for all of a minute before sighing. “Alright, just - just don’t move.” Skull became confused until he gave a yelp, not being helped to stand with an arm around  _ just  _ his waist, but being lifted with an arm around his waist  _ and  _ one under his knees, so surprising to Skull that Reborn would do such a thing. 

Meanwhile, Reborn was startled by how  _ light  _ Skull weighed. He would’ve thought that the younger man weighed  _ at the very least _ a bit more than what Reborn was feeling as he lifted Skull off of the ground, standing up himself, as Skull’s body, while lithe and with a frame more for flexibility and speed, had a good deal of muscle on it.

Skull’s face, Reborn noted, was growing steadily red. Made sense, considering the closeness this put the person being carried to the person doing the carrying. Skull had his hands around Reborn’s neck, scared of being dropped. 

 

Hey, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. While he was never afraid of heights, Skull never trusted other people in carrying him, considering the fact some had cruel senses of humor. 

 

“Why even were you at the club?” Reborn questioned, but before Skull could say, the two were interrupted. 

“Fin-f***ing-ally, what the Hell happened?!” A female’s voice demanded, and two looked to see a rather irate woman, her hair as red as her eyes were turning. A Storm. 

“Chelsea,” Reborn acknowledged, walking over. Skull really wished he could disappear right now, this was so embarrassing! Being held like this in front of other people?! He closed his eyes, not wanting to see anybody looking at him mockingly.

“Oh f***,” Chelsea’s eyes bugged wide when she  took in the sight before her. The rapist was dead -  _ let’s sing some praises _ ! -, but not before scarring one last person. “C’mon, get him to my office,” she said. Reborn gave her a sharp nod as he followed, glancing down at Skull to see him with his eyes closed, looking rather upset. 

 

_ ‘I can’t blame him for being upset. Any person would feel upset if in his place,’  _ Reborn thought, rather bitter that Skull had to go through such a horrid experience.

 

A short walk and climbing of a spiral staircase later, the trio were in Chelsea’s office. Reborn set Skull down on the couch, Skull releasing his grip on Reborn’s neck as he looked around the room hesitantly. 

“Shouldn’t you be worrying over disposing the body?” Reborn questioned Chelsea. She rolled her eyes, “That freak’s face is so f***ing recognizable on the media, it’ll do a lot of good if people see it dead. Plus, you forget the club’s people’s livings made?” 

Reborn smirked, “Well now, I can’t argue with that. But do get rid of the trash soon, I don’t think it would do your business any good if you have a corpse’s rot stinking up this place.”

Chelsea shared in his smirk, “Will do.” She looked over at Skull, who had gathered that she was the owner of the club from listening into the conversation -  _ and how couldn’t he? He was sitting right there on her couch, in front of the two!  _ -, and that she had hired Reborn for to kill the freak that - 

 

_ ‘Nope, no. Don’t think about it. Not right now.’  _ He thought, closing his eyes.

 

“Are you okay?” Skull opened his eyes, seeing her giving him a worried look. “Need a medic?” Skull frowned, “I … I can’t feel my legs, but I don’t think it’s an injury. Aside from … some nightmare material, he … didn’t do much to me aside from …” Skull winced, and he gave a shuddering breath,shaking his head, no longer wanting to say. 

Chelsea frowned, “I -  _ We  _ need to know.” She  _ had  _ to know the full extent, because this was her club, what unfortunately for her was that  _ sick f*** _ ’s hunting ground. People had been scarred for life, left for dead or wishing they’d been dead, this happening  _ in her Eye _ . She needed to  _ know _ . 

“What’s it matter anymore? He’s  _ dead _ ,” Skull said instead as he collected himself. “It matters because  _ it matters _ ,” Chelsea told Skull, her voice strong. “Reborn can tell me what he  _ saw  _ before he executed that freak, but it’s  _ you  _ that went through it, and so it’s you that is the only one capable of telling us what the Hell that sick f*** did, how far he went.” 

Skull grit his teeth, “It’s  _ over _ . It’s  _ done with _ . He’s not going to be finishing anything. He’s not going to haunt anybody else’s nightmares. He’s  _ dead _ .” 

Reborn placed a hand on Chelsea’s shoulder, making her look at him. She sighed as she realized, she was only making the crash be worse for when Skull came out of the rescue high. Those crashes back into reality with what happened, they were the worst thing ever. 

Reborn looked at Skull now, saying softly to him, “Skull, we need to know as because he could’ve … injured you  _ another  _ way. Physically, instead of just …” He  _ really  _ didn’t want to go there, he  _ didn’t _ . 

 

He didn’t want to think of what Skull had to go through, what he hadn’t been quick enough in stopping from happening. 

 

Skull contemplated now his next move, before sighing, conceding to Reborn’s point. He turned his head to the side, and, pulling back his hair, revealed the bruise that had been partially covered by it, telling them, “He hit me across the head with his gun.” 

And just like that, Reborn was by his side, examining the wound. “How badly does it hurt?” He asked Skull, who shrugged. “Not that bad now. It gave me a bit of a headache, but nothing can top when Bermuda - … I’m fine. It was just disorienting.” Skull averted his gaze from Reborn’s after telling him that, to which Reborn frowned. 

Chelsea also frowned, for a different reason than Reborn’s. “We should still have that checked out, just in case. Did you have anything to drink at the bar? Did you meet him there or had he …” “I did meet him at the bar, but I didn’t have anything to drink,” Skull admitted, looking quite embarrassed. “It’s - It’s sort of my policy to never drink when it’s just me, not even a shot, and even when I’m the designated driver, too. So no, he - he couldn’t have slipped me anything. Plus, my Flames sort of eat away at drugs and the like pretty quickly.” Skull’s smile became irked, “But doesn’t mean I don’t feel the effects still.” 

“Of all the wonders of Flames, they aren’t a cure-all,” Chelsea said, smiling slightly before frowning. “His usual methods are slipping something into the drinks, if not dragging with chloroform,” she muttered, trying to figure out how then, he had gotten Skull.

Reborn raised a brow, “You were alone, meaning you took your motorcycle. You never would’ve gone somewhere else with anyone if it meant leaving behind your motorcycle.” Because if there was one thing that the former Arcobaleno as a whole group knew, it was Skull was  _ highly  _ territorial over his motorcycle, something he built from scratch himself when after the Curse was broken. 

 

He’d always been good at mechanics. 

 

Skull blushed, embarrassed, “ … My bike’s back tire popped when I pulled into the parking lot. He chatted me up, offering to drive me to the nearest mechanic’s.” He said that last part shamefully, knowing how badly a mistake it was to accept a stranger’s offer, but he kept a knife in his boot ever since getting back to being himself! He thought he could handle anything, but no,  _ not a gun he hadn’t seen before it went slamming against the side of his head _ ! 

“Rotten luck,” Chelsea grimaced. Skull swallowed back his agreement, as it  _ didn’t need vocalizing _ , and he asked instead, “So, what happens now?”

Reborn and Chelsea looked at one another. Skull became confused as a silent conversation passed between the two, Chelsea giving Reborn a pointed look and the man acknowledging her look with an assenting nod. 

Reborn then looked at Skull, asking, “Is there any feeling back in your legs? Do you think you can stand up now?” Skull frowned contemplatively, trying. He smiled with relief as he did so, and said, “It was just my legs being asleep, nothing serious.” 

“Good for, considering,” Chelsea said, tensing up as she then realized. Reborn, standing up himself, gave her a pointed glare, what Skull saw but bit his tongue as he didn’t want to acknowledge what it was Reborn was pointedly glaring at a tensed up Chelsea for. 

“H-Hey, so one problem solved, onto the next, right?” Skull grinned shakily. “Right,” Reborn said, still looking at Chelsea who was now twiddling her thumbs before he looked at Skull. “Where did you park your motorcycle?” 

Figuring as to what Reborn was getting at, Skull said, “J-Just right outside the club.” “Alright, let’s go.” He headed out the door of the office, causing Skull to go after him in a rush as to not get left behind. “H-Hey, Senpai, wait up!” 

Chelsea hummed softly as she looked at where both disappeared off to. “Hmm, wish they wouldn’t be finding out through these circumstances,” she said just as she went and called for her security guards. Time to dispose of the garbage. 

 

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for the two load Skull’s motorcycle into the trunk of Reborn’s car, they setting out for Skull’s apartment building. 

As Reborn drove on, he glanced at Skull before looking back at the road, having seen that Skull was staring out the window, he wearing a tired expression but fighting sleep. 

“If you’re tired, just go to sleep,” Reborn advised. “We’ll be there shortly, so it doesn’t matter.” Skull frowned as he glanced at Reborn, “I … really don’t think sleep’s going to come easily.” 

Reborn gave him that one, considering. “What even were you doing at the club?” He would’ve thought that Skull would’ve used his personal time for things like racing, performing stunts, and the like, but then again, Reborn really never put much thought into Skull’s interests, so he couldn’t really say what he thought Skull would be into. 

On that note, Skull’s attire made it sure obvious he’d been planning on a fun night out, which unfortunately, wasn’t what happened. “I kept hearing good things about the club, and wanted to check it out for myself.” “You didn’t know about  _ him  _ using it as -” “Only hearsay,” Skull interrupted. “Nothing too concrete, so I didn’t give it much thought. Plus, what were the odds I’d run into  _ him _ , huh?” 

Silence reigned in the car after that, and soon enough, Reborn was pulling into the parking lot of the apartment building. As the car came to park, Skull unbuckled his seatbelt, looking quite unsure of himself. 

“W-Well, thanks for … driving me back …” Reborn looked at Skull with a blank, unreadable look, and he told Skull, “It wasn’t a problem. Now, will Oodako be coming along?” 

You could practically  _ see  _ the question mark hovering over Skull’s head at Reborn’s question. “Uh, wh-what?”

Reborn refused to let his irritation show, knowing actually how out of the blue his question was. Turning off the engine, Reborn began explaining, “It’s not a good idea to leave you by yourself - and before you say that Oodako is there, no, it isn’t the same, so pack a bag, as you’re staying with me tonight.” Skull frowned as he averted his gaze from Reborn’s, “It’s  _ over with _ . He’s dead, you made sure of it. S-So what’s it matter?! It doesn’t, it shouldn’t!”

“But it does,” Reborn stated. “Now, are you going to go pack an overnight bag, or am I going to have to pack it for you?” Reborn asked as he unbuckled his own seatbelt, intent on going in with Skull. 

Seeing no way out of it, Skull glared at Reborn, “You’re terrible.” Reborn smirked, “Not the worst thing I’ve been called.”

 

* * *

 

 

Skull’s apartment was not what one would think it being. The place was rather spic and span, a contrast to what Skull’s character would make you think, but then again, Skull’s liking for travel could also play in as a factor of his apartment’s being so clean and tidy. 

 

One wouldn’t know unless they knew Skull well. 

 

The entirety of Skull’s living room was tricked out, the largest wall covered by a world map, many pins and colored threads along the map. Smaller maps were pinned up alongside it, with pictures and postcards alike attached. Reborn was surprised the most by the balance beam and other gymnastics equipment tucked neatly aside against the wall, but then again, it was to be expected Skull had some sort of gymnastics equipment on hand, considering his occupation as a stunts performer. 

Skull had gone to his room to pack his bag as Reborn told him to, leaving Reborn in the living room to wait, and it didn’t take too long for the Cloud to come back, Oodako in his travel aquarium ( _ it simply being a sealed fish bowl large enough for the size changing octopus to feel not so cramped up in, with straps for to be carried _ ), held along Skull’s arm, and a duffel bag slung over Skull’s other shoulder. 

“Ready,” Skull said, feeling awkward. How couldn’t he with all that transpired earlier? Reborn looked over at him, seeing that Skull was looking mightily uncomfortable, and said, “Alright, are you sure you have everything?”

Skull rolled his eyes, “I’ve triple-checked. C-Can we just go already?” He didn’t want to stay awake, but he didn’t want to go to sleep just yet, either. Oodako tapped the glass of his travel aquarium, looking at Skull with a pointed look. Skull averted his gaze from his familiar’s, keeping it averted away from Reborn’s, too, and he muttered, “Quit ganging up on me, I’m  _ fine _ .” 

Reborn raised a brow as he heard that. So Oodako had the same worry, too? Huh, interesting. 

The wall back down to the car went quick enough, and soon enough, they were back on the road, Skull’s duffel bag in the backseat of the car whereas Skull kept Oodako with him, the sealed fish bowl in his lap and held there as Skull leaned against the passenger side’s door, staring out the window and watching things pass by best he could ( _ it was nighttime after all, and while there was just enough light to illuminate what went by, it was still difficult to see much on the road at night _ ). 

“You’ve been to a lot of places,” Reborn tried making conversation as he drove on, knowing it would be better to keep Skull’s mind from wandering. Skull looked over at Reborn, staring for a short minute before humming his acknowledgement of what was said, saying in affirmation, “Yeah, I guess so? I mean, I’ve never really thought on it much.” “How couldn’t you?” Reborn was amused now. “You must’ve been all over the world, twice over.” 

Skull smiled slightly, “Not even. There’s still so many places I haven’t been, but hey, I’ve got the time to.” Reborn asked, “I noticed on your wall that there weren’t any pictures from the time when we all were Cursed?” Skull winced, “Yeah, I didn’t do much traveling then, considering the difficulty it was to travel alone when looking like a toddler.” 

Reborn couldn’t help agreeing, considering the Curse made it difficult for all of them, limiting what they could do and get away with. “So you were making up for the time lost?” “Yeah, I wanted to go to so many places, and hey, second chance and all with the time. The circus allowed me to get to places I didn’t ever think I’d get to go to when I was a kid, and after, before Kawahira found me, I was pretty much just traveling around. After the Curse, I wanted to check out some new places, but I’m … still trying to work up the courage to go to Mount Everest.” “Why would you need to work up the courage to go there?” Reborn was curious. 

“Cold, icy, and the mountain’s taken more than its fair share of lives. What more can I say than that?” Skull replied. “I’ll concede to that,” Reborn allowed. “What about you? You must’ve gone to a lot of places yourself,” Skull inquired. Reborn smirked, “Now, that would be telling.” “But I told you mine!” Skull whined, smiling widely. 

“The places I’ve been to, I’ve killed people, Skull. I don’t think you want me recounting those stories,” Reborn said seriously. Skull frowned, “Of course not, but I’m not asking about who and how many you killed, just about the places. Did you like any of them? What sights did you see? If you did, what was your favorite and would you want to go back and see it again? Things like that!” Reborn frowned contemplatively. “I … did like a few of the places I went to, yes, and I did see the sights when I had time to. I think my favorite place I went to was Madagascar.” “Chameleons?” Skull asked, having a clue as he knew that species of reptile was indigenous to Madagascar. 

Reborn smirked, “On the nose with that one. Leon had a great time.” Skull laughed, “I’ll bet. You must’ve been like a kid in a candy store, too.” “And why exactly would you say that?” Reborn questioned as he raised a brow, his amusement growing. “C’mon, they’re your favorite animal, aren’t they?” “They’re my favorite  _ reptile _ ,” Reborn corrected. “Isn’t that the same?” Skull was confused on the difference. Reptiles fell into the animal kingdom at the base of it all, so wasn’t that the same? Reborn clicked his tongue, “One would think so, but no.” 

Their conversation went into general vs specifics, Reborn thinking of all things to ask Skull about as to keep the Cloud’s mind off of what happened earlier, and he was sure Skull knew too what it was he was doing, considering how he would ask some things, certain things seemingly out of the blue, too. 

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at Reborn’s house, and Skull was surprised, mesmerized by the architectural design. Pulling up into the drive, Reborn opened the garage via the key remote, and drove in, parking the car and turning off the engine. Both unbuckled their seatbelts, and Skull went to get his duffel from the backseat, only to find Reborn already had it. 

“I could’ve gotten it myself!” Skull huffed, agitated. Reborn raised a brow, “You already have your hands full with Oodako’s fish bowl.” Skull grumbled something under his breath, his agitation mostly at how Reborn was treating him fragile. He could get his own bag! He didn’t need to be watched over, either! 

“Deal with it, Lackey,” Reborn rolled his eyes at Skull’s behavior. It was then that Reborn realized what he said and he immediately looked at Skull, who had no reaction. Skull gave him a curious look to which Reborn looked away at, not wanting to explain himself over what that was about, not even wanting to acknowledge what his look was about. 

 

_“I’ll die gladly knowing that I f***ed_ your **_toy_** _, Reborn!”_

 

_ His  _ words were echoing ever since in Reborn’s mind.  _ Why  _ did  _ he  _ come to that conclusion? Reborn didn’t want to think it’s because of how he called Skull, calling him “Lackey”. 

Skull wasn’t a toy. Yes, he called him his “Lackey”, but that … that wasn’t because he thought of the Cloud as a  _ toy _ . 

 

Skull looked around as he entered Reborn’s home, noting how it perfectly suited the man. It was expansive, with a luxurious look that at the same time wasn’t so in your face over how wealthy Reborn was, is. It fit the suave man’s style, to get to the point. 

Oodako began tapping the glass of his bowl again, what got both men’s attention. They looked at the little octopus who began curling a tentacle in a vague L-shape. “Oh! Oodako’s right, where’s Leon at?” Skull asked, figuring that was what his familiar was getting at. He had known that the familiars chatted with one another, and the ones Oodako interacted mostly with were Leon and Falco, for obvious reasons. 

Reborn smiled slightly, stunning Skull as he had only ever seen Reborn  _ smirk _ , not smile. “As there’s no sunlight filtering in through the windows at this time, he’ll most likely be in my room.” 

Oodako began swimming happy circles, what got Skull giggling at. Reborn thought that was adorable, but he wouldn’t ever admit that to anyone. 

Reborn led Skull upstairs to the second floor of the house, where the bedrooms were located. He led Skull to a bedroom, a guest room, and opened the door, stepping into the room and saying to Skull as the Cloud followed after, Skull taking in the feature of the room, “I’m right down the hall if you need anything.” He had set Skull’s duffel bag down on the bed, ready to leave for his bedroom, when Skull stopped him, saying softly, “Grazie, Renato.”

Reborn looked over at Skull, seeing the Cloud looking shy, holding Oodako’s travel aquarium close, nearly hugging it to his chest as he kept his gaze averted to the floor. Reborn couldn’t help himself, that he was close enough to reach out and ruffle Skull’s hair, shocking them both with the action done. 

Reborn cleared his throat as his cheeks tinged slightly with color, and he said as he was the one to now avert his gaze from Skull’s staring searchingly own, “Well, you’re - you're welcome, Skull.” 

And with that, he left, baffled and questioning himself on why he had done that. 

Skull looked at Oodako, who was looking quite surprised as Skull was at what Reborn had done. “That really happened, hadn't it?” Skull questioned his familiar, who bobbed affirmatively in the water. Skull breathed a breath, “Yeah, I thought so.” 

 

* * *

 

Skull’s pajamas were childish, Reborn deemed upon seeing them. The shirt was an overly large tee with attached striped sleeves, and the bottoms of the set made of a soft fabric that was patterned with little skulls and bones, only, the bones were really cigarettes and the skulls had a fiendish head of thin, stringy looking hair each. The shirt had a movie poster on it, and Reborn couldn’t hate the pajamas even more for the image the movie poster tee displayed.

_ ‘Beetlejuice pajamas, ugh.’  _ ( **A/N: I honestly love Beetlejuice, both the movie and the cartoon series, and the pajamas are just what I imagined Beetlejuice themed pajamas being.** ) Reborn wrinkled his nose at Skull’s pajamas, swallowing down another sip of his espresso. 

He and Skull were in the kitchen, both getting something to drink before bed as the hour was getting later and later, and they needed to sleep. On the note of sleep, they had checked out Skull’s head injury earlier after Skull had unpacked, finding that aside from the bruise going to be a lingering mark for a good bit ( _ you’ve got to love heightened healing factor _ ), it wasn’t anything worse. 

Oodako and Leon were busy chasing one another in a game of tag, Oodako a bit larger in size as he used his travel aquarium to roll after or away from Leon, the straps off of the globe-like sealed fish bowl as the two familiars played chase, Oodako’s breather on just in case. 

“I happen to  _ like  _ Tim Burton movies!” Skull said defensively, seemingly out of the blue. He knew what Reborn was thinking, having seen the older man’s nose wrinkle. “And these pajamas are  _ comfortable _ .” Reborn rolled his eyes, “They're still childish.” “Cigarettes are childish?” Skull countered. “Alright,  _ inappropriate _ ,” Reborn amended, smirking as Skull huffed, drinking down another gulp his hot chocolate. 

“At least they’re more colorful than your pajamas,” Skull retorted. Reborn’s own pajamas were a standard set of formal pajamas, black with yellow trim, the trim looking golden. “Pompous pjs much?” Skull snickered. 

Reborn replied, “They're comfortable  _ and  _ stylish, something you wouldn’t know about regarding the latter.” Skull’s eye twitched, and he said without thinking, “What I wore earlier would say otherwise.” 

Both tensed as a reminder of earlier came. It was inevitable with how things were going, that at some point in the night, it would be brought up. Reborn sighed, knowing he had to be the one to begin that conversation as Skull was looking quite defiant, and so he said, “Skull, it matters.” “No, it doesn’t.” “It does. It should and it does. I came in and saw him …  _ humping  _ (Reborn grimaced at his having to use such a vulgar descriptive word) your backside, but I  _ know  _ that wasn’t all that he’d done, so …  _ please _ .” 

Skull hesitated, and he was really considering it, especially since Reborn used the word “please”, instead of just demanding, but … 

“I - I’m sorry, I can’t,” Skull said, closing his eyes and grimacing. “I - I can’t. I just can’t.” He opened his eyes, they watering with unshed tears. He walked over to the sink and poured out what little remained of his hot chocolate, no longer wanting anything more to drink, and he cleaned out the cup, washing and rinsing it out, setting the cup upside down on the towel that was next to the sink as so it could dry. 

“I’m - I’m going to bed,” he said softly as he moved away from the sink, heading for their familiars as to get Oodako. Oodako and Leon had paused in their game, and Oodako was looking quite sad, not wanting Skull to be hurting as he was. Skull picked up Oodako’s fish bowl, looking apologetically at Leon who was making a sad noise. “Sorry, Leon, but hey, you two can continue your game all morning tomorrow.” Leon seemed to perk up at that and Reborn watched, looking on with an unreadable expression as he watched his familiar smile slightly at Skull. 

It was odd. It just was, in Reborn’s most honest opinion, odd how Leon got along so well with Skull when he had trouble doing so, what he’ll admit for the most part was his own fault. 

When Skull left the kitchen with Oodako, back to the guest room, Leon scurried over to Reborn, who picked him up off of the floor and set him on the counter. “I know,” Reborn told Leon when the little chameleon made a noise in his throat, what Reborn interrupted as regarding Skull’s well-being. “I don’t think so, either.”

 

Because no matter how many times Skull said he’d be fine, the truth was, he wouldn’t be for a long while.

 

* * *

 

 

“Those will kill you, you know,” Reborn’s voice startled Skull, who had been smoking a cigarette outside in the backyard of the house, not wanting to smoke up the guest bedroom he’d been staying in. 

It was a few hours later after they’d both gone to bed, but Skull hadn’t been able to sleep. The “nightmare fuel” was keeping him awake, and he quite honestly didn’t think he could go back to sleep without  _ nightmaring  _ again. 

Skull huffed a laugh, blowing the smoke, saying, “Like I care. What are you doing up?” Reborn frowned at Skull’s dismissive behavior. “I should be asking you that. Bad dream?” “Dreams are pleasant, what I had was a nightmare,” Skull said, taking another drag from his cigarette. He blew out that drag with a sigh, looking up at the starry night sky. “Life’s a nightmare.” 

“Skull, it would be better if we talked about -” “There’s nothing to say,” Skull interrupted. “There’s nothing more to it than he’s dead, I’m alive, and you were the one to shoot him dead, shooting him to Hell.” Skull looked over at Reborn, “Is it more satisfying when you’re pulling the trigger on a  _ really  _ deserving piece of $#!+?”

 

Reborn looked at Skull, considering just what it was he was hearing. “You came out crashing, didn’t you?” “You’re pretty much stuck crashing without an escape when you’re sleeping,” Skull said, smiling sarcastically as he took in another breath of nicotine. “Reliving it, it’s like it’s a movie you’re watching, or more like a clipped scene you’re watching on YouTube, just a scene out of so many available to you. First half remembering outside myself was weird, but the second half, when I was  _ experiencing  _ it again … all those feelings, wanting nothing more to vomit and choke, just to escape  _ him _ , you think it hurts worse when it’s on a rerun or when you’re going through it the first time? Because I’m not even sure …”

 

“Skull, I really do think we should talk about … what happened,” Reborn said, and Skull looked over at him, lowering his cigarette away from his mouth. “Don’t you think talking about it is better than keeping your feelings regarding what happened bottled?”

Skull looked at Reborn blankly, before he said in a quiet voice, “I was raped. You can’t even say it. You keep saying  _ “what happened” _ , not  _ “the rape” _ ,  **my** being raped. How can we talk about  _ my being raped _ , if you can’t even handle saying it, acknowledging what it was that happened by using the  _ words _ ?” 

“ _ Fine _ ,” Reborn spat. “Your  _ rape _ , your having been  _ raped _ . We need to talk about  _ the rape _ , your having been raped by a known rapist, your having been his  _ last victim _ of his  _ rape spree _ .” Skull rolled his eyes at Reborn’s behavior. “That’s a bit dramatic.” 

“ _ How  _ are you staying so  _ neutral  _ over this?!” “Where does a Cloud lash out?” Skull asked instead, making Reborn pause. “What?” “Where does a Cloud lash out?” Skull repeated his question. “ … At the world. A Cloud lashes out at the world when angry.” Reborn said, realizing just what Skull was getting at. 

“But you’re an Inverted Cloud, and you’re lashing out at yourself.” “And circle gets the square,” Skull huffed a bitter laugh. “You want to talk about  _ feelings _ ? How I’m  _ feeling _ ? I feel horrible. I feel pathetic, a disgrace, and all because I  _ didn’t fight back _ . But  _ oh _ , of course I couldn’t fight back, because he had a gun on me, but I  _ should’ve been able to fight back _ , because I’m not just a  _ Cloud _ , but the  _ Strongest Cloud _ , aren’t I? But then, I’ve always been  _ weak  _ and  _ pathetic _ , only able to go to the brink and circle back around impossibly. So, where should it, where should my blame go? Onto myself, for being a weak and pathetic person as to not have fought back as I should’ve, onto the freak for having started this mess in the first place with that innocent woman, or onto  _ you _ , because for some reason, you seem to blame yourself, why not add my blame to your shame?” 

Reborn didn’t know. He didn’t know  _ what  _ he could say, as Skull’s words were so …  _ shocking _ . Jarring. Boggling. Was this really what Skull had been feeling? Reborn didn’t know what to say. 

And he did blame himself. He blamed himself badly for not having found  _ him  _ quick enough to stop what happened to Skull. The reason for why Reborn had been pushy for the details was because he wanted to know just how badly he let Skull down in not getting there in time, but wasn’t that the thing? It didn’t matter what all happened, as molestation is molestation, rape is rape, and it’s all horrible. 

“ … How did you have the time to  _ drink _ , when I make sure to store away my alcohol under  _ heavy  _ lock and key?” Reborn had smelt the alcohol on Skull’s breath when Skull was saying his “speech”. skull barked out a short laugh, “Just because I don’t drink if I’m the one driving, doesn’t mean I don’t drink at all.” 

Skull finally snuffed out his cigarette’s lit end, throwing it away in the small trash can sitting innocently on the back porch. He pulled from the pocket of his pajama bottoms, a lighter and an opened pack of cigarettes, to which Reborn frowned at seeing. Skull went to light another cigarette, when Reborn snatched both out of Skull’s hands. “Hey!” Skull tried to get them back, only for Reborn to tell him, “No, Skull. And I’ll be taking your flask, too. Dammit, do you not realize what you’re doing to yourself? How long have you had this habit?” 

Skull grit his teeth, snapping, “Maybe if you and the others weren’t always dulling me, I could light up without tobacco and alcohol giving me that high!” Reborn’s brows furrowed as he didn’t understand what Skull meant by that, but he did know, it was still a good thing he had Skull spend the night, despite what was currently happening. 

“Hand me the flask  _ now _ ,” Reborn said as he pocketed Skull’s lighter and cigarettes, and the Cloudy man grumbled something vaguely expletive-sounding as he pulled from his other pocket, the flask, handing it over as he saw he had no other choice to. Reborn pocketed that and then said to Skull, “I still think it’s a good idea to talk, but we’ll do that when you’re sober.” 

Skull suddenly looked fearful, surprising Reborn. “I’m not going back to sleep! You can’t make me!” Skull told him, looking panicked. “Skull, you need to get some rest,” Reborn told him gently. “I can stay in the room with you until you do?” He offered. Skull considered that but then shook his head, “Stay? The entire night, please?” 

The scared expression Skull wore was pitiful, breaking Reborn’s heart and making it plummet into his stomach. “Of course,” he said softly. “Go back to your room, and I’ll be there as soon as I put your flask and cigarettes up.” Skull gave a relieved breath before doing so. 

Reborn heaved a sigh, pinching the space between his eyes, trying to understand just why it was that he was being like this. 

 

_ “Grazie, Renato.”  _

 

_ ‘F***. He’s going to be the death of me,’  _ Reborn thought as he walked back into his house, but as he put the flask, lighter, and opened pack of cigarettes up into the drawer of his bedside table ( _ as he had gone immediately to his room to do so _ ), he couldn’t help but also think how good this would be. 

 

For the both of them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ... 
> 
> Okay, for the final scene, that was something I'll admit I wasn't too sure over. Originally I thought about writing Skull's memory of what happened, but then went against that thought as it was difficult enough as is to write what happened in chapter 1. The final part of the chapter came along ... well enough, and the idea of Skull's being a smoker and also having a flask on hand for whenever he needs a drink just seemed ... admittedly legit to me. Honestly, my headcanon isn't so pretty when you get into the details over it all. 
> 
> Regarding the "*insert very strong word to describe Reborn’s grandstanding negativity that just can’t receive a fitting enough word for*" thing? I honestly couldn't figure out what word to use, so left that up for y'all to decide what would be a good enough word. 
> 
> Well, as always, please point out to me ASAP if you've spotted any grammatical errors in the chapter, as I really don't want anything to take away from my work, bad grammar especially. 
> 
> See you in the next chapter!


	3. A Day's Worth of Moments Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! So I've been focusing on writing more of this story than L'ora Delle Straghe as of late, but that doesn't mean I'm not working on L'ora Delle Straghe. It just means more inspiration for He's With Me is coming to me than for L'ora Delle Straghe at the moment (because quite honestly, it's hard to write how Skull's going to be kicking Reborn's @$$ when they get to combat training, lol, even while I'll be looking forward to that). 
> 
> On the topic of this chapter, we'll finally be learning what just happened ...  
> Aside from that though, we'll be having a bit more relationship forwarding fuel here, so that's a positive! I'm trying to take Reborn and Skull's relationship from something complicated to romantic as slow as can be, as I don't want to rush anything between the two here. That being said, I'm trying to get through as much of the "immediate aftermath" as possible. We're still in Day 1 of after the night, after all! Ah, but I've found a helpful plot device along the way, too. Got to love nature ...
> 
> Regarding my update schedule, it's still at random until I get all my courses settled into something resembling a workable routine! But I'm still going to try to update both this story and L'ora Delle Straghe as much as possible (or "AMAP", because if there's an "ASAP", you can be sure there's an AMAP)! 
> 
> Well, as always please point out to me if you've spotted any grammatical errors in the chapter. I'd really like to keep bad grammar from subtracting anything from the story!

Now, you would think that because of their line of work, Reborn and Skull would be light sleepers, or st the very least, Reborn, right? Because Skull seemed the type to be a heavy sleeper. But you’d be sorely mistaken. Well, no, you actually wouldn’t be, as the two were more mid sleepers, if that made any sense?

Skull was predictable this way, liking to sleep in, but he would awake at the slightest sound due to paranoia that came from working with the Mafia for after a long while, whereas Reborn also liked to sleep in if he was given the day to, but his internal alarm clock easily beat any alarm clock, for he would wake up at a moment’s notice without hesitation, ready to defend himself if there was any sign of danger, thanks to his trained sense of his surroundings.

 

But his trained sense of his surroundings didn’t prepare him for what he came face to face with when he woke up later on after getting a drunken Skull to bed.

 

How does a person react when they come face to face with a person that’s hanging off the edge of the bed almost completely, partly on the floor, snoring light snores with their mouth partly parted, and oh, did I mentioned they’re on their back so technically upside down?

Reborn stared at the sight before him before he began snickering, and then chuckling, before full blown laughing. _‘Maybe I’m a bit drunk?’_ He questioned himself, smiling slightly as he hadn’t ever expected to wake up to see such a sight before, and he was quite honestly curious if that was how Skull usually slept, because _damn_ , if he did, then that was _hysterical_!

Reborn had slept the night on the floor, as sleeping beside Skull on the bed would’ve been quite startling, and Reborn’s biggest worry was perhaps triggering a flashback? Anybody would be skittish of having a body next to them after such a traumatic event like what Skull went through! Reborn hadn’t been uncomfortable, considering he’s slept in more uncomfortable and even on occasion cramped accommodations. Getting up off of the floor, he looked Skull over, seeing that the Cloud had kicked the covers off of him sometime during the night, so the covers were now kicked to the far side of the bed, with Skull still hanging off of the side of it and somehow still managing to sleep on looking comfortable and peaceful.

“You’re so weird,” Reborn muttered, still smiling. While he didn’t want to wake Skull up, considering he wasn’t so sure just how much Skull had to drink and thus didn’t know whether or not the Cloud had a hangover, Reborn did know that such an angle to be sleeping at would put some sort of crick in the neck or back, either one, so … -

“Skull, wake up,” he said softly, and he raised a brow as Skull only gave a snort, rolling over and slipping a little bit further to the floor. “Hmm, do I leave you to fall onto the floor or save you from hurting yourself?” Reborn rhetorically questioned, before crouching down and saying a bit louder, “Wake up!”

Skull startled awake, slipping off the bed with a yelp. “Ow!” He groaned, rubbing his sore head as he sat up off of the floor. Thankfully, the blanket Reborn had been using the night precious cushioned his fall, but it still _hurt_ . He blinked up at Reborn, who was still crouched low, nearly kneeling on one knee - _‘Like last night …’_ -, giving Skull an amused smirk. “Do you always sleep so haphazardly?”

Skull chuckled nervously, “N-No?” He started to get off the floor, both standing up now. “I mean, I - Wh-Why even does how I sleep matter?!” Skull was blushing madly, embarrassed by the conversation topic. Reborn chuckled, “It doesn’t.”

“T-Terrible!” Skull accused Reborn of being. “Again, not the worst thing I’ve been called,” Reborn said. “Now, maybe we should _talk_?” All amusement was out of Reborn’s voice, and Skull chuckled nervously. “I - I - C-Can’t we do that during - or even after - breakfast?”

Reborn gave Skull an unamused look, “Fine, but we _will_ be finishing last night’s discussion.” It had to be finished with, for both their sakes.

 

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for both to get ready, although Skull somehow managed to get faster down to the kitchen than Reborn, both of their familiars continuing their previous game of chase along the kitchen floor as Skull was cooking breakfast.

“And breakfast is served~!” Skull grinned, looking quite merry as he divvied up breakfast between his and Reborn’s two plates, taking them over to the table. “You’re awfully cheerful,” Reborn commented. Skull winced, “I … try to put myself in a good mood during the morning. Sort of like a way to psyche myself up for the rest of the day?” Skull explained himself as he sat down in the chair next to Reborn’s, keeping his gaze averted.

Reborn chose not to comment on that, instead letting silence reign as the two are breakfast quietly. He did find what Skull cooked to be quite delicious, even while it was a simple breakfast, nothing too grand. But _damn_ , did Skull know how to brew an espresso!

“ … I didn’t think much of it,” Skull piped up, his voice soft. Reborn realized in an instant what Skull was talking about. “I mean, how can anybody … _expect that_?” “ … What exactly … happened? When he - When he … raped you?” Reborn questioned, his own voice soft as he looked at Skull searchingly.

Skull, he finished with eating, arose from the table, wanting to busy his hands as he told Reborn what happened the night prior, the full story. Reborn had finished eating, too, so Skull went to gather his plate, when Reborn stopped him, standing up from the table and both taking their dishes to the sink, Reborn not wanting to just sit idly and listen, but help Skull in cleaning the dishes.

 

“First off, r-remember how I said my bike’s back tire blew out?” Reborn gave an affirmative response to that, and Skull bit his lip. “Like I said, he ch-chatted me up at the bar. He offered to buy me a drink c-considering how upset I was looking, and I - I didn’t think much of it, y’know? Nice guy and all, just trying to b-be nice … W-Well, e-even when my motorcycle’s tire was out, I still didn’t want to drink anything, so declined, a-and he was a bit pushy, trying to get the reason for why I was so upset, and I guess I … fell for it? His rouse? He … He offered to drive me over to the nearest mechanic’s, to get the tire checked out and replaced, and s-stupid me went and accepted …” Skull paused in his washing the dishes, taking a shuddering breath, trying to collect himself. Reborn was patient as he listened, he biting his tongue as he kept from commenting just yet. “I - I wasn’t in any hurry, b-but he said that the roads were going to get bad soon enough, a-and it was better t-to get going b-before the shops closed up entirely for the night, s-so we w-went towards the exit, or what I thought was an exit. It was my first time at the club, s-so I didn’t know where everything was.” Skull told Reborn, who had set down the plate he’d been drying, alongside the towel he’d been using, and he said as he looked at Skull, “First off, you aren't stupid. Secondly, he played all of his … victims well. You have nothing to be ashamed for, feeling tricked. He knew how to play a person.”

Skull smiled weakly at Reborn, “I still feel stupid for not having been more paranoid. … I started keeping a knife in my boot, j-just in case, y’know? S-So I thought, if he tried anything, I’d be the better person prepared, but not the case … He pulled a gun on me, and I hadn’t seen it before, didn’t see him carrying it on him before he pulled it out. It - H-He hit me with it, where I showed you and … Chelsea? (“Yes, her name is Chelsea,” Reborn was quick to affirm Skull’s recollection on the club owner’s name.) W-Well, like I said, didn’t hurt as bad as when Bermuda … but it did disorient me to where h-he sh-sh-shoved m-me d-d-down, a-and …”

“ _Breathe_ , Skull,” Reborn told the Cloud, seeing him on the verge of hyperventilating. “You don’t need to tell me the details, I don’t need the details.” He just needed - _wanted_ to _know_ what the Hell happened.

 

“He mouthraped me,” Skull uttered lowly, his voice cracking as he got himself under control, and  Reborn felt murderous. “H-He c-c-came In m-my mouth and m-made me s-s-swallow, a-and th-then began … where y-you s-saw …”

 

Skull dropped the plate, thankfully into the soapy water and not onto the floor, when Reborn unexpectedly hugged him. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Reborn apologized so _sincerely_ to Skull, it made tears spring to the Cloud’s eyes. “It - It isn’t your fault,” Skull said, his voice shaky. “It - It was h-his, a-and it - I-I  was - was the one t-to not fight back -” “Skull, _no_ ,” Reborn told him strongly as he pulled back from the hug, his hands now on Skull’s shoulders as he looked at him with a most serious expression snatching his features.

“You couldn’t have fought back without getting shot, and at the angle that the gun was at, how close it was to your head, you could’ve easily been _killed_ , Skull! Do _not_ blame yourself for not fighting back _ever_ ! He was the one at fault, _never you_!”

Skull looked at Reborn, “But … I should’ve done better to not -” “You. Are not. To blame!” Reborn said, his voice raising.

 

Neither expected the boom of loud thunder that came almost immediately after Reborn’s near-shout, startling Skull back into Reborn’s arms with a yelp.

 

“Wh-What the heck?!” Skull gasped, his eyes wide as he went over to a window to look outside, Reborn following after.

Storm clouds and a hail of water, no actual hail thankfully. Even if it hailed, Reborn’s house had reinforced glass for its windows. Reborn frowned at the downpour, before he went to go check on something.

“I’m going to get check the news,” he told Skull, who had looked over at him curiously when he saw Reborn leaving. Skull gave a nod of understanding even as he frowned.

Reborn went to the living room to turn on the television, turning it onto the news. He scowled as there came a live report, telling of how the roads were flooding, and how people were warned to stay in their homes for the next few days until the roads were cleared. Well, wasn’t that just dandy?

“Well this is just _great_ ,” Reborn heard being said sarcastically behind him. He looked and saw Skull looking at the television, he looking quite miffed with Oodako - out of his travel aquarium, grown to plushie size, and with his breather on - held in his arms. “The storm shouldn’t last for more than the rest of the day at the very least, and then it’s just a matter of getting the roads cleared out,” Reborn said reassuringly.

“ … G-Guess he was right,” Skull said quietly, hugging Oodako closer. The octopus familiar made a cooing noise as he twisted partially around, patting Skull’s forearm with a tentacle. Skull smiled down at his familiar before frowning again.

Leon skittered over to Reborn, who picked the little chameleon up and set him on his shoulder. Leon made a noise in his throat and Oodako replied with another cooing noise, this going on for a long minute of a moment, both familiars’ humans curious as to what their familiars’ conversation was about.

To both men’s surprise, Leon sprung off of Reborn’s shoulder, causing for the man to fumble to catch his chameleon as he was worried Leon was going to fall and get hurt, but Leon dodged Reborn’s hands and landed safely on the floor, scurrying over to Skull. Oodako tapped Skull’s forearm to be let down, which Skull did, looking on curiously. Oodako then lifted Leon up onto his head, and the octopus then looked back up at Skull.

Skull picked both familiars up, resettling Oodako back in his arms, whereas Leon scurried up onto Skull’s shoulder, giving Reborn a pointed look from where the little chameleon now was.

 

Both men were incredulous at what just happened. How couldn’t they be? _What just happened was so damn weird_.

 

“I … think I might know what they’re getting at,” Reborn said, walking over to where Skull was. Skull blinked confusedly up at him, and Reborn instead looked at Leon, asking his chameleon, “Yes or no, Leon, you think we should make this a regular rainy day?” The little chameleon familiar began making an affirmative and happy sounding noise, and Skull only grew more confused. “Uh, “regular rainy day”?”

“When I have a day off and it just so happens to rain, really, I just find something to do aside from paperwork,” Reborn admitted. “Leon likes to watch nature documentaries, mostly about reptiles.” Skull lit up, “I have a nature documentary on octopi we can watch!” Oodako waved his tentacles in a happy gesture, as if going _“woohoo”_ , entirely adorable.

 

Reborn raised a brow, smirking in amusement, “You carry a nature documentary on octopi with you in your overnight bag?” Skull grinned widely, “Oh, you haven’t the slightest clue, Senpai.”

 

* * *

 

It looked to be a day spent in pajamas and watching movies as it thundered and rained cats and dogs outside of the house, Reborn and Skull sitting on the couch with their familiars with them, Oodako in Skull’s lap as Leon was on Reborn’s shoulder, all four watching what was currently playing on the television’s screen, that being the end credits of Skull’s nature documentary on octopi.

“Admit it, that was a great movie!” Skull said enthusiastically as he looked over at Reborn, beaming at the older man. Reborn smirked as he looked at Skull, “I’ll admit it was _good_ , but I won’t say that it was _great_.” Skull shrugged, “I’ll take what I can get, but hey, it looks like Leon enjoyed and or is traumatized by the movie!” He said that last part while pointing at the chameleon in question, Leon staring wide eyed at what he had just seen.

Reborn stroked along Leon’s spine consolingly, looking quite amused as he said, “I think more traumatized than enjoyed, considering that, that octopus actually _ate_ a _shark_.” Skull chuckled as Oodako seemingly puffed up in pride, “Yeah, it’s actually why Oodako likes going to Mafia Land so much.” Reborn looked over at Skull disbelievingly, “You can’t mean …” Skull smiled dryly, “Partly for the food, partly for the “fun”.” Oodako seemed to be in agreement as he made an affirmative sounding noise.

 

Even Leon was looking incredulously at that, and the little chameleon was going to be bringing this little tidbit up later next time all the familiars or at least he and Falco could meet up …

 

“That … is highly terrifying.” Reborn deadpanned. “Not really. Shark tastes pretty great,” Skull said thoughtfully. Reborn and Leon both looked at him strangely, to which Oodako became defensive and began making quick and defensive-sounding noises at Leon, whereas Skull said in annoyed voice to Reborn, “Don’t give me that look! You know all too well that the familiar bond has things transfer over from the animal in question to the human partner!”

Reborn conceded that point, but … “I know you enjoy seafood on the occasion, Skull, but you eating _shark_ is something I don’t think I’ll ever understand _why_.” “Then I’ll just have to cook my favorite shark recipe for you,” Skull said nonchalantly. “Oodako and I are overdue on having a seafood dinner night anyways, plus, the more the merrier!” Skull’s smile was wide and bright, and Reborn couldn’t deny that it did sound like it would be a pleasant enough time, considering.

“Fine,” he relented. He then grew quiet, confusing Skull, prompting him to ask, “Hey, what’s with the silence?”

“Skull, are you … feeling better?” The question put Skull immediately on guard, but he sighed, averting his gaze to the floor. “Honestly? No. You … were right saying I’d - that it was better to talk about it, but … it’s still so fresh. I mean, _it happened last night_ . There’s just no way I’ll be okay, … but again … _grazie_ , because I … do feel … I dunno, like things _could_ get better? And that’s thanks to you,” Skull told Reborn, he giving Skull a considering look as the Cloud finished saying this.

He hadn’t thought what he was doing was anything much, just looking out for Skull after such a traumatic event, what nobody should have to go through. Sure, they’d been planning for Skull to leave to go back to his apartment sometime during the day, but then the storm hit and the roads flooded closed, and here they were now. Reborn hadn’t realized before a few certain things before today, even last night, and it made him curious, if a little guilty in his curiosity, over Skull.

 

He would admit, he’d done a great wrong not getting to know Skull before, only seeing the civilian tagged for something he shouldn’t have had no part in, and even worse, how he acted towards Skull when he remembered those times before and during the Curse. It was pretty saddening to think about, they wouldn’t be here now, sitting on the couch and talking, hadn’t it been for that night, and Reborn didn’t know whether that should make him even more guilty, because he hadn’t a reason for doing this hadn’t it been for Skull’s having been hurt on his watch.

 

“You shouldn’t be thanking me,” Reborn told him, sounding so sincere. “If I’d been faster in catching him, he wouldn’t have gotten to you, and you -” “Wouldn’t be here, talking to you, talking with you,” Skull interrupted, looking at Reborn now. “You said it wasn’t my fault, and it’s not yours, either. Anything bad happens to everybody, nobody’s exempt, unfortunately. So I wouldn’t have been … raped had you caught him quicker. But that doesn’t mean something else bad wouldn’t have gone down, and it’s pretty likely I would’ve been alone to go through it.” Reborn frowned at Skull’s words. “You can’t honestly think that,” he said. “I honestly do, and I’ve gone through enough alone to know that the world’s got a lot of bad in it, and when you avoid one thing bad, something else bad comes along. That’s just how life is.”

“That’s a bleak outlook on life,” Reborn commented. Skull shrugged, “It’s just how my outlook is. I try to make the best of it, and hope to God that it doesn’t end badly, my day, but sometimes, it just does. I can’t help myself.”

“Again, bleak,” Reborn said, and Skull shrugged once again. “Again, just can’t help myself.”

 

“ … What is a good day for you?” Reborn asked, wary in his asking. He didn’t want to upset Skull, considering this was a moment the two were having. Skull thought on that, before responding, “A good day for me is … when I can breathe. And that sounds pretty confusing, but it really isn’t. Everyday feels like a weight on me, because I’m … okay, I’m f***inf insecure.” Skull gestures to himself, rolling his eyes, “I mean, c’mon, I’m loud, obnoxious, and yeah, flamboyant, but people really think that’s just how I am _naturally_ ? It’s my _job description_ to put on shows, play the performance people are expecting.” He dropped his hands, averting his gaze from Reborn’s once again - _Skull noticed he’d been avoiding the man’s dark onyx eyes a lot lately_ -, saying softly, “I psyche myself up that way, being boisterous. And on the plus, if my behavior comes off as off-putting to people, making them avoid me? All the better. While I like attention, I don’t like _attention_ , if that makes any sense? If I can _breathe_ , it means that I haven’t gone through a day of hurting, haven’t gone into thinking some dark thoughts on that abyss. Life’s … pretty f***ed up. So a good day for me? Remembering and breathing with thoughts on all the good and not choking on the bad that comes my way.”

 

“That’s … rather frightening,” Reborn admitted. Skull looked at him curiously, “How so?” “I would think that a person would go insane from that constant way of thinking, for the stress they’re bringing onto their self alone.” He told Skull, who gave a snort of _amusement_ , smiling slightly.

“It’s not the _insane_ you’ve got to watch out for. It’s the sane people, Reborn, and luckily enough, I cracked a _long_ time ago. So hey, be glad on that.”

 

And for some reason, Reborn _was_ glad on Skull’s having cracked a long time ago. Because it meant he was still breathing.

 

* * *

 

After their moment of serious talk, the two had resumed their movie marathoning, with Skull commenting on the chameleons nature documentary having been admittedly “Great, if only for the educational value.” That had sparked a disagreement, Reborn defending the documentary as being all the round more exciting than Skull’s nature documentary over octopi, until Skull pointed out one crucial hole in Reborn’s argument - _sharks_.

 

Thankfully, their argument only began when the credits began rolling, so there wasn’t anything lost, no missing a scene due to their being trivial and petty on whose nature documentary was better.

 

Their familiars were watching the back and forth their humans were having, they having a bet on who would crack down first in the draw - _which they both knew was more than likely going to happen instead of one of their humans copping out first_ -, Reborn or Skull.

_“*I’m telling you, Oodako, Renato’s not going to concede defeat so easily.*”_ Leon told the octopus, who simply rolled his eyes. _“*True enough, but Skull is_ stubborn _to a fault when it comes to his interests, and octopi just so happen to be an interest of his~! Hey! Maybe your human could take mine to an aquarium when they get over themselves and realize?*”_ Oodako suggested.

( **A/N: XD I honestly can see the familiars having talks like these. Seriously. I’ve been wanting to write some dialogue between Leon and Oodako for a long time now. I can so easily see this happening as Reborn and Skull are fighting over something trivial and petty before realizing what their familiars already realize -** **_that being freakin’ kiss already_ ** **!** )

_“*Eh, maybe? But you know it’s going to take a long while before they even get to that point, right ‘dako?*”_ Leon questioned his fellow familiar, pointing out sadly quite the true fact. Oodako _literally_ shrunk a bit in size as he knew what the chameleon said was true, _“*Yeah, I - I know. But … he’s making Skull happy, n-not leaving him broken, a-and Skull shouldn’t b-be so sad. S-So they’ve got to realize s-soon ‘c-cause Skull w-will be ha-happier that w-way …*”_ Oodako’s eyes began watering, and that was when Skull noticed something wrong, immediately ending his and Reborn’s “conversation”.

“Hey, what’s the matter Oodako?” Skull asked softly as he held his familiar closer to him, practically hugging the smaller-sized octopus to his chest now. Oodako looked about ready to cry, what caused Reborn to frown as he wondered but then realized that Oodako’s looking ready to start crying was because of something said between the familiars regarding Skull.

Leon scurried down from his human’s shoulder, going over to Oodako and nudging him. _“*C’mon, ‘dako. Don’t be doing that now! Look, you got Skull all worried over your crying!*”_ Leon tried, only for Oodako to bust out crying upon hearing that.

Skull was frowning worriedly as he tried consoling his familiar. He looked at Leon and said apologetically, “Sorry, Leon. Oodako’s pretty sensitive, so whatever you two talked about, must’ve really gotten to him.” “It was you,” Reborn told Skull gently, causing for Skull to look at Reborn oddly. “They were talking about you, Skull.”

Skull winced. “Yikes, yeah, no. Never a good idea for when it’s me and it’s bad.” He looked down at Oodako and pet his familiar gently, saying softly, “C’mon, Oodako, I’m okay. I’m here and it’s okay.”

Reborn would find it forever strange to hear the odd hiccup-like sounding noises coming from the size-changing octopus as Oodako was calming down. Leon was just happy Oodako was calming down at all, considering the Cloud Flames familiar was probably the most protective over his human compared to that of the other familiars - _himself included_ \-  in their group.

Skull smiled slightly, “There, hey, it’s okay ‘dako. We’re fine, we’re good. You and me, me and you.” Oodako turned in Skull’s lap and wrapped his tentacles around Skull’s waist, reminding Reborn of a clingy crying child hugging their parent.  It was … oddly accurate, if you thought on just how much Skull adored his familiar.

“You’re awfully parental with Oodako,” Reborn commented as Leon began making reassuring sounding, comforting sounding noises at Oodako, what seemed to be working. Skull looked over at him, “You really think so?” “That’s how it looks like to me,” Reborn admitted. Skull smiled slightly once again, saying, “Honestly? That’s probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said about my “mom mode”.”

Reborn raised a brow, thoroughly amused. “Who else besides you calls it your “mom mode”?” “Verde, actually.” Skull grinned, “He’s terrified of me when I go all “mom” on him. Why else do you think he has so many padlocks and reinforced doors leading to his lab now?” “ … That must have been a very bad day for him,” Reborn commented, trying to hold in his laughter at the image of Verde being scolded fiercely like a child by Skull. How would that even have gone? Plainly, he couldn’t understand why Verde would be afraid of Skull, when the scientist has been known to experiment on said Cloud.

 

And suddenly, Reborn’s amusement was gone when he thought on those experiments and tests. Skull had always seemed so tired afterwards, when he came back from the lab, that he had even skipped a meal because he wanted only to sleep! He hadn’t thought much of it back then, but now?

Well, Reborn was going to have to talk with Verde soon on just _what_ these experiments and tests on Skull were all about. Like _Hell_ he would be leaving Skull’s safety be after what happened the night prior. He didn’t want Skull having a flashback, didn’t want to put the Cloud in any unnecessary harm.

_‘But then again, I’ve always brought some form of harm onto Skull,’_ Reborn thought bitterly at himself, self-loathing. God, he was such an ass to Skull, hadn’t he been? And he hadn’t even apologized yet for his assery! But how could he?! He didn’t know where to even start in apologizing!

 

“Quit it,” Skull snapped him out of his thoughts, poking him in the shoulder. Reborn looked at Skull oddly, and he shrugged in response as he gave his reply, “I could’ve pulled your cheek to get you back to reality. I used to do it all the time to my siblings.”

“You have siblings?” Came out of Reborn’s mouth before he could stop it. Skull smiled though, unoffended by the question. “Well, they’re not blood-related, but yeah. The circus was one big happy family, everybody looking out for one another. The circus brats especially looked out for one another, the older kids looking out for the younger ones while the adults did their performances or taught the older kids that were ready to be taught a role at the circus. I’ll admit, I was probably the one with the most hands-on experience out of my age group then when it came to the babies and toddlers, but that’s pretty much because I didn’t really have a choice.”

Reborn narrowed his eyes at hearing this. “What do you mean you didn’t have a choice?” Skull had been petting Oodako comfortingly as to help console his little tako, and at that question, Skull stopped, raising his both of hands in a placating manner. “Nothing bad, I swear,” he said quickly. Lowering his hands, he went back to petting consolingly Oodako, who was snug against his stomach, still hugging him.

 

“Then what did you mean?” Reborn questioned. “Well, I didn’t have parents growing up. That was a pretty big no for the circus, leaving a child in its care unattended, so they had system set up where the kids would go on rotational care under all the performers and non-performing staff - so the maintenance members and the wife of the ringmaster, because the ringmaster himself was a busy man -, which caused for a little bit of free babysitting for the older kids that were on the rotation when it came to the biological children of the performers and non-performing staff. It gave them and me a chance to learn how to be responsible with younger children, as well as helped to diversify our skills. There were these two brats, Leanne and Louis, that I would always watch out for especially, considering their mother was the “Blade Goddess”. She was the resident knife thrower, and taught the kids under her care how to wield a knife, throw a knife, _use a knife_ , and where the best places to stab a man and woman were at on the body.” Reborn thought on that, “Thus why you started crying a knife after the Curse broke.” “Partly. I’m not great at shooting guns, and the noise bothers my ears a lot,” Skull admitted. “Most guns have noise dampeners though,” Reborn pointed out. Skull shrugged, “I’m a Cloud. Our senses are heightened probably better than any other Flames-user. If I focus on one of my senses, I can heighten it to over average for what a regular person is capable of being able to do with that sense. I actually was told by Becci - member of the Carcassa, sweet girl, if a little bit of a klutz - that I was like Rachel Pirzad from the American science fiction drama show, “Alphas”* in that regard, since that character is able to heighten one of her five senses exponentially.”

 

Reborn thought on what Skull had said, finding what Skull said not wrong. Clouds were more wild than any other Flames-user, and it did make sense that their senses would be heightened slightly, if not largely more than another Flames-user’s would be, since Propagation had some very interesting applications.

 

He then realized something. Skull had been constantly hearing gunshots since he came into the Mafia. “You’ve never said about your issue with guns before?” “Like it would’ve done anything?” Skull countered, not really caring for the issue. “I mean, you can’t be considerate of another person’s hearing when on the battlefield. Top priority always has to be yourself, doesn’t it? Besides that, I had help at the circus in training my hearing down to something that wouldn’t be bothered as much by noise. The maintenance crew were all hands-on-deck with that one, and I nearly got adopted as apart of them because I could hear the issues with the equipment quicker than they could find said issues. That caused for a lot less safety risks,” Skull told Reborn.

“Is that why you like working in machinery so much?” Reborn asked, genuinely curious. Skull blushed, looking away, “Ah, I - I guess? I mean, I’ve always loved figuring out how things are.” He smiled down at Leon, who looked up at him with a reptilian smile. “First time I saw Leon transform into a gun, I had to stop myself from asking all the questions on how he was able to do so. Yeah, our familiars can do some pretty crazy and wild things, but actually being able to transform into an object?! That’s way up there on the crazy and wild scale. And don’t even get me _started_ on what goes through my mind whenever I saw you using Chaos Shot, because those numbers are just _staggering_. It took me the better part of the Curse to figure out the equation you’ve been using!”

“Equation?” Reborn was thoroughly amused by Skull’s enthusiasm, as well as surprised by what Skull had been thinking all this time. Leon was soaking up the praise while Oodako, now thoroughly calmed, was rolling his eyes at his fellow familiar’s puffing up. “Stuntmen and women need to know a great deal of math to be able to pull off even the smallest bit of what we’re capable of,” Skull said proudly. “I can run an equation through my head, tear it apart, get the answer, and put it all back together on equal time or even faster than any calculator could! But Chaos Shot’s equation was something that made me stay up late at night thinking about, to be honest. I mean, you’re _literally_ firing your _soul_ through Leon’s gun form! Didn’t it come off to you as strange the first time you used Chaos Shot in front of us all, and I started avoiding you?”

“I honestly didn’t think much of it at the time,” Reborn admitted, remembering now how Skull had avoided him for a month and a half when the at the time I Prescelti Sette weren’t on a mission. Skull’s avoidance ended when Lal had enough of it and forced Skull into the same room as him. “Well, I was avoiding you so I wouldn’t give into the urge to ask you all the questions I had running in my head. Verde likes them well enough, since it gives him something to think on and figure out for himself, helps in his Flames research actually, but I have this really bad tendency to tear something apart if I’m curious enough, whether that tearing apart be metaphorically or literally speaking.”

 

Reborn was very happy at that moment Skull decided to restrain himself from asking his questions. The idea of Skull cornering him and asking what was undoubtedly so many questions was … unnerving, to say the least.

“Should I be worried over your joining Verde’s research as his assistant?” Reborn asked, partly playfully, partly serious. Skull smiled, “I’m already his assistant!” 

 

Say what?!

 

“What?” Reborn questioned sharply. Now, don’t get him wrong, Reborn didn’t mind Verde all that much, it was just … 

Verde’s experiments, his tests on Skull left  _ a lot  _ to be desired now that Reborn was realizing just what  _ Verde’s experimenting and running tests on Skull  _ meant. 

“Well, it got proven that I’m durable enough to be his assistant, and with my asking the right questions for to help get Verde thinking, why not? And it does help that I’m pretty much the only one capable of scaring Verde into taking care of himself,” Skull summed up. When you put it that way,  _ Reborn still didn’t like it very much _ .

“But he treats you fairly?” Reborn had to make sure. Skull shrugged, looking down at Oodako, who was asleep, what was unsurprising to Skull because Oodako generally tired himself out not too long after crying. “I mean, I guess so? He doesn’t like me near the chemicals, but that’s understandable. He trusts me enough to take a look at the machinery, so at the very least, he doesn’t treat me like I’m incapable, if that’s what you’re asking.” 

It wasn’t, but Reborn relented to the fact Verde didn’t seem to be treating Skull poorly.  _ ‘Unlike how you’ve in the past had,’  _ a traitorous, dark part of his mind whispered to him. Reborn brushed the voice off, caring only for now. 

 

Reborn had to care  _ now _ , not care for the past. To move forward, you can’t keep yourself stuck in the past, only focus on the now, the present, and look ahead to the future. And that’s what he was planning to do, focus on the present to make things better between him and Skull, for the sake of them actually having a friendship and not a complicated relationship as they had in the past. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly couldn't help myself with the conversation and throw-ins of Leon and Oodako interactions with each other and their humans. I just love the familiars so much, they don't get enough limelight in my opinion! 
> 
> Regarding the "octopus eating a shark" thing? That's a true video on YouTube! I'm not kidding you. It legit is. Here's the link!: https://youtu.be/_HNZePQosxU 
> 
> Regarding Skull's knowing what shark tastes like ... I mean, there's recipes for shark, and I can't help but think that, yes, there's a holdover from where habits of a familiar crosses over to the human of the bond in question. Chameleons camouflage themselves, Reborn's a cosplay addict. There's my argument, try to refute it, lol! ^^
> 
> And I thought the comparison of a Skull's heightened senses Rachel Pirzad's "Alpha" ability was pretty good! If you haven't seen Alphas, I'd recommend watching it, since the abilities on there are pretty legit amazing, some of their Alpha abilites powers you wouldn't normally think of when thinking superpowers! 
> 
> And I'll be honest, I was really just winging it with what I was writing this chapter. It came to me as I was typing, and after some consideration, I just went with it. Turns out, it turned out to be a good idea, because the chapter became built with so many "moments" that I just -hfqcukrdhcbquvgqcvu I'm sorry, I'm just so happy about how this chapter turned out! 
> 
> Well, hope everyone is having a good day/night wherever you all are at! See y'all in the next chapter! ^^


	4. A Day's Worth of Moments Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't apologize enough for my hiatus, everybody. It was unintended and can only be excused by the legitimiate and legitimately sad excuse of life getting in the way. 
> 
> Other than that though, I'm glad to bring you chapter 4 and part 2 of A Day's Worth of Moments! Warning, childishness, a bit OOC but considering that I honestly think he'd be actin childish when letting down his walls, especially when it helps in helping Skull move past his insecurities, which will get explored in the coming chapters. 
> 
> I expect ... three, maybe four more chapters with Reborn and Skull at Reborn's place before the storm clears. Then after that, we'll be moving back into territory of associating with others!! As the events at Chelsea's club haven't gotten told to the other Arcobaleno yet, who do you suppose would stick their foot so far down their mouth it would come out their ass? I already have that person planned, but if you can guess as to who it is amongst the other Arcobaleno, I'll write a bonus chapter with whatever prompt you want to see happening between Reborn and Skull, and yes, other characters are accepted. So I guess the game goes: 
> 
> Guess the Arcobaleno that is so dumb to stick their foot so far down into their mouth it comes out their ass and ruins the work Reborn put into helping Skull move past his insecurities! First person to guess correctly wins a bonus chapter with whatever the prompt you wrote alongside your guess as the premise of the chapter! 
> 
> ^^ As always, I am doing this solo, so please help me out and tell me if you've spotted any grammatical errors! Thanks, and enjoy chapter 4!!

 “I still can’t believe it’s raining,” Skull commented, looking outside as he looked outside, looking disbelieving at the heavy downpour. The storm had started at 7:45 in the morning, and it was now 1:54 in the afternoon. They’d finished their movie marathon in about an hour earlier, the two men deciding that they didn't have anything else better to do, so they split up to go take showers, hoping for the steam to get their minds in gear for what other activities aside from watching more movies - which got a bit boring five movies in, the two short nature documentaries on the species of their familiars being the first of the five, and then the last three being one a comedy, the second a horror, and then the third and final movie that they watched being an action movie. 

Skull was currently sitting on the bed of the guest bedroom he was staying in, wearing stonewashed jeans and a plain tee-shirt, black in color. He went wide eyed as he watched lightning streak across the sky in time with the loud, thundering boom, the dark clouds lighting up brilliantly as he stared out the window. Oodako was playing chase again with Leon somewhere in the house, what Skull didn’t mind so long as he knew both familiars were in the house and not outside ( _as if they’d be dumb enough to go outside during such a storm!_ ). 

 _‘Hmm, maybe a snack to go with this show?’_ Skull wondered as he got off of the bed, then wondering what to make for himself as he was feeling a bit hungry. He thought that it was only fair to make Reborn something to eat while he was getting himself something, considering what all the hitman’s been doing for him since the night prior. 

Making his way down to the kitchen, he smiled as he saw Oodako and Leon, the two familiars continuing their game of chase. It was adorable, in his opinion, how the two familiars got along. It also made Skull wonder if at any time at all he would be able to get along just as well with the others, like how his familiar got along with theirs. 

“Now what _would_ he want to eat?” Skull muttered questionably to himself as he decided what it was, he could make that Reborn would be okay with. _‘Well, it’s raining, so why not a soup or stew instead of just some simple snack?’_ He thought, smiling at the idea before frowning. He knew a lot of recipes for soups and stews, and after having gone through the contents of both the pantry and fridge, Skull was at a loss, because he had enough ingredients for any of the recipes he knew! 

“Maybe …” He smiled as a thought of what he could make cake to him. “Maybe, yeah.” He began to collect the ingredients, grinning along the way as he did so. 

 

_“And remember, each ingredient should be prepared with love, not just care, because that’s how you truly get a good stew.”_

 

* * *

 

When after they split up to take separate showers, Reborn had gone and went to complete the paperwork he hadn’t gotten to before the night prior after he had gotten out of the shower. He was dressed in a simple button down and a pair of slacks, completing the paperwork _finally_ , the large stack sitting so innocently yet at the same time evilly on top of his desk. 

“Finally, _done_ ,” he muttered as he set aside the last form to fill out. You wouldn’t think a hitman would have so much paperwork to fill out, but he did. Paperwork was a beast everybody at some point in their lives would have to go through trying to defeat, no matter the job occupation. 

He looked at the clock, seeing it ready 2:32, and he wondered what Skull was up to. The storm was still raging on, the winds howling, thunder booming, and though the room was without a window, he could plainly hear what seemed like a whip, lightning crackling across the sky. The heavy pounding along the roof was just a testament to how powerful a downpour the rain was falling at. 

Reborn paused as he smelled something quite delicious smelling wafting into his study. _‘I wonder what it is he’s cooking?’_ Reborn thought, getting up from out of his chair and heading out of his study to head downstairs to the kitchen to see what Skull was cooking. 

When he got down to the kitchen, he paused in the doorway of the room, surprised by the sight that earlier, he hadn’t been able to take in, too focused on having that talk that came after breakfast. What sight was he seeing? Well, of course it involved Skull and what it was the Cloud was cooking up, but … 

Skull was at the stove, stirring the contents contained within a large pot, the violet haired man humming a merry little tune that contrasted quite surprisingly pleasantly with the raging thunderstorm happening outside the house. And was it mentioned Skull was wearing an apron? An apron that was _yellow_ and _frilled_ , _Reborn’s apron_? 

 

… He got it as a gift from one of his more badly humored but well-meaning colleagues, okay?! 

 

“What are you making?” He asked as he entered the kitchen now, and Skull looked over, smiling at him. “Hey, Senpai! It’s a rainy-day stew,” Skull firstly greeted, secondly said to the man as Reborn walked over to take a look for himself. Skull became sheepish as he then said, still continuing his stirring, “It’s actually not, more of a winter’s night’s stew, but hey, either way, it’s something warm and wonderful for a day and or night so wet and not wonderful!” 

Reborn chuckled at Skull’s humorous grin, saying, “Well, either way, it sounds like it’s going to be quite good. By the way … where did you find that apron?” Because Reborn was pretty sure he had hidden it well in the far back of the pantry, where nobody could find it aside from him. 

Skull looked down at the apron in question, saying as he looked back up at Reborn, “I just … found it? I dunno, I’m good at finding things without meaning to. Is that something that can even be done? Well, either way, I didn’t want to ruin my shirt, so … yeah, apron.” Skull looked back at the stew, muttering, “Frilly, frilly apron.” Reborn raised a brow at Skull’s muttering, quite amused by what the Cloud had told him. 

“Well, the “frilly, frilly apron” aside,” Reborn smirked widely at Skull’s embarrassed blush, “is there anything I can help with?” Because he was feeling useless with Skull’s having been the one to cook earlier this morning and doing so again. Sure, they both washed the dishes, but it just wasn’t the same in Reborn’s opinion. Skull glanced at him before glancing back down at the stew, stopping his stirring and taking out a spoon for tasting the broth. Dipping the spoon into the pot, he scooped a bit of the broth into the spoon, pulling it out of the pot and holding it out to Reborn, at mouth-level. “Well, you could tell me how it tastes so far? The stew’s not going to be ready for another hour or so, but I want to know if it doesn’t need anything else added before it begins simmering.” 

Reborn felt irked that was all Skull wanted him to do but obliged anyways. “Alright,” he said, and he was actually just going to take the spoon from Skull when a thought struck him. He leaned forward, taking the curve of the spoon into his mouth, his eyes on Skull. He smirked around the spoon as he watched Skull’s face heat up even worse than when he blushed out of embarrassment for having been caught muttering about the apron’s being frilly.

 

What else can Reborn say than he’s always one for causing mischief? 

 

Pulling away, he considered the taste as he swallowed that sample of the broth down. _‘Skull is quite good at cooking,’_ Reborn thought, finding the taste of the broth to be quite delicious. “Nothing seems to be needing added to it, as it tastes quite good.” Skull smiled, still blushing, and Reborn found himself caught, the Cloud saying as he set the spoon down and aside for later washing and putting away, “That’s good, I was afraid that I missed a step in the recipe.” 

He placed a lid over the pot before turning the burner on low, before stepping away from the stove to untie the strings of the apron and take it off. He looked unsure as he held the apron in his hands now, and looked at Reborn hesitantly, asking, “Um … Where can I hang this up at?” Because aprons are supposed to be hung up when they’re not being used, right?

“If you don’t need it again later, we can just put it in the laundry for later washing,” Reborn said. Skull was about to say when the oven went off, confusing Reborn. “Oh, they’re done!” Skull smiled, tossing the apron over at Reborn as he got an oven mitt on and opened the oven door, taking out a tray of chocolate chip cookies with his mitted hand. Closing the door and turning the oven off, he set the tray down on the counter. 

“… _Why_?” Reborn questioned, honestly astounded Skull decided to make cookies. He had caught the apron in his hands as he walked over to where Skull was, now at the sink, washing and setting aside the dishes he had used to make the cookies and stew, for drying afterwards. “And if you were going to wash dishes, it would’ve been better to keep the apron on,” Reborn said, knowing how sometimes the water could splash back onto the person doing the washing. Skull shrugged uncaringly, “To answer both questions backwards, I don’t really mind it since it’s water, it’ll dry, and to the question regarding the cookies, _they’re cookies_. It’s not a winter’s night, but it’s still cold and - and oh f***, I forgot to ask if you even like chocolate chip?!” Skull was beginning to panic. “I mean, it’s chocolate chip which universally speaking is a really great cookie, but I didn’t ask if you liked chocolate chip cookies and preferred another kind and I’m sorry, so sorry I shouldn’t have -” 

Reborn cut Skull off, giving him a look as he said, “You’re not going to continue on with that rambling apology of yours as for one, I don’t have a preferred cookie, so your apology for not asking if I did prefer a certain cookie over another is unnecessary, and two, _you don’t need to apologize at all_ , Skull.” Skull looked down at the floor, embarrassed at his rambling outburst. “S-Sorry, I just … didn’t want to be inconsiderate …” 

“Cooking a stew and baking cookies is definitely _not_ in the realm of inconsiderate,” Reborn deadpanned. He shifted uneasily, “Truthfully, what I’ve been doing has been inconsiderate.” 

Skull looked up at him hesitantly at that, “Wh-What do you mean?” “You didn’t have to cook breakfast earlier, and not now, either. You’re a guest in my home, Skull. That honestly makes me feel as if I’m not being a good host if you’re the one cooking.” Skull’s eye twitched at Reborn’s explanation. “That’s stupid. I _like_ cooking, and I like cooking for others, too! Plus, I was the one who told you to back off earlier at breakfast today when you tried taking over cooking. So, how’s it any inconsiderate thing, if I want to help?” 

Reborn huffed, honestly surprised by Skull’s words. “I guess it’s not, then …” Skull smiled, happy to have won that argument even before it started. “So that said and done, did you get your paperwork done?” Skull asked as he took a cookie off of the tray, finding happily that it didn’t fall apart when picked up. Reborn smirked as he took a cookie for himself, “Yes, though it took nearly two hours in doing so.” He took a bite from the cookie before his eyes widened by a slight fraction, but it was still noticeable to Skull, and he watched curiously as Reborn hesitated before taking a larger bite from the cookie, and Skull then realized something, something that made him give a startled snort of laughter, making Reborn look at him oddly as Skull tried smothering up his laughter.

“Y-You - Oh God, _chocolate chip cookies_ are your favorite, aren’t they?!” Skull laughed. Reborn glared at Skull, and after swallowing down the bites of cookie he’d taken, defensively asked, “So what if they are?” Skull’s laughter finally came to an end as he calmed down, and said as he looked at Reborn, “Nothing, really, honestly. It’s just, you reminded me of a little kid showing far too much restraint in not just simply devouring the cookie completely in one bite, and believe me when I say, I’ve seen that happen enough times to know what that looks like.” 

 

What came next, Skull still can’t believe happened. Reborn had _blushed_ so damn vividly, he nearly rivaled a tomato as he then wordlessly took another cookie off of the tray and hurriedly left the kitchen, Skull staring wide eyed at what he’d just seen. 

 

When Skull snapped out of his stupor, he placed his uneaten cookie back down on the tray and went after Reborn, saying loudly, “Hey, I didn’t mean it like a bad thing, Reborn-Senpai!” But even while he was chasing after a retreating Reborn - the man retreating back to his study to calm down from his embarrassment before dinner -, Skull was having a grand old time finding out that, yes, Reborn could indeed get flustered by something! 

 _‘Guess he’s human after all,’_ Skull thought with a smile as he heard the door to Reborn’s study slam close, just as he was on the staircase. “Well, fine then, pout like a _little kid_ ~! There’ll still be cookies left if you want any,” Skull laughed as he went back to the kitchen to check on the stew once more before letting it steep for the remaining time it needed before finishing. After, he decided to get check out one of those books that he saw earlier on the bookshelves in the living room. 

 

* * *

 

It was quite funny to Skull when an hour later he was calling Reborn down for dinner. Reborn wouldn’t look him in the eye but did eye the chocolate chip cookie tray - the _empty_ tray. Skull had to smother his laughter at Reborn’s disappointed expression, having realized the man had been planning to snag another cookie off of it without Skull noticing. 

“Nu-uh, like I would leave them out in the open like that once they cooled off enough?” Skull grinned at Reborn. “Well … Where are they, then?” Reborn asked instead. Skull pointed at the pot of stew, “Dinner first, dessert second.” Dropping his hand, Skull was now looking at Reborn curiously, “Seriously, I’ve been told my baking’s good, but … what’s with your fixation on chocolate chip cookies anyhow?” 

Reborn hesitated as he got two bowls down for him and Skull, the Cloud having gotten the necessary silverware out, and Reborn then relented, saying, “My mother used to make chocolate chip cookies for my siblings and I on the stormier days that happened.” It had been her way of giving him and his dearly departed siblings a way of comfort, softly said sweet words and warm hugs aside. Skull’s eyes gained a sad gleam in them, “Oh …” He knew that Reborn didn’t like talking about his family - which was a more common thing than not regarding their occupation and especially their _specific_ circumstances -, but hearing _that_ was … “I can understand nostalgia foods.” He told Reborn with a shrug as he got a ladle out, scooping out a good bit of the meat and vegetables and pouring a good bit of the broth into his bowl before passing it over to Reborn, who did the same as Skull spoke to him. “Muriel - the “Blade Goddess” I told you about earlier - would make these pineapple rings edged with brown sugar for whenever the brats and I were sick with something.” 

Reborn thought of something as he and Skull went over to the table, and he asked as they took their seats, “If you don’t mind my asking, you’ve rarely if not ever been sick for as long as I’ve known you?” Skull frowned as he dipped his spoon into the broth but didn’t do anything else beyond that. “I chalk it up to my Flames most of the time. I was pretty sickly as a kid, and I think it was only after my Flames went activate did I start getting better.”

It certainly explained Skull’s eagerness for performing ridiculously difficult stunts and maneuvers. “I’m going to go ahead and guess that’s why you chose to be a stuntman, because before, you weren’t able to do much?” “Pretty much, yeah,” Skull shrugged, now getting a small piece of the seasoned meat he’d added to the stew onto his spoon, lifting it carefully to his mouth so as to not let it drop back into the bowl or onto the table. He ate that bite, chewed the meat and swallowed it and the broth down. Not too hot, but not cold. 

“I didn’t get to do much because of how sick I was, so I was stuck with reading and learning the less “tiring” jobs at the circus. I know a few different ways to divine a person’s future, but I prefer cartomancy and chiromancy,” Skull said, and he elaborated at seeing Reborn’s confused look, “card reading and reading of the palms.” “That must have been interesting,” Reborn commented after eating and swallowing down some of his bowl of stew, and he thought idly that it was pretty delicious, too. 

“Eh,” Skull said. “It was _okay_. I much preferred grooming the animals, learning how to maintain the equipment, and such, even when I got the “easier” tasks. Plus, because of how bad I was feeling most days, I got to spend time with the ringmaster and his wife - though it was mostly his wife I spent time with back then, because the ringmaster had so much on his plate some days - and learned the ins and outs of the paperwork monster and the more advanced maths, since the ringmaster’s wife was a bit of a mathematician, which helped me in mapping out my stunts later on when I began performing.” 

Reborn regarded that with an interested hum, genuinely interested by what Skull was telling him. “You must’ve been close with the ringmaster and his wife, then, since you spent time seemingly every other day?” He questioned, only to receive a fond smile in return. “Yeah, I did, and we were. While Muriel was great, she was like this really cool, badass aunt, never taking crap from anyone, and always giving back twice as good as she got, the ringmaster and his wife were like parents to me. It … It helped me a lot, having them and everyone else at the circus as I grew up, because I couldn’t ask for a better family for my kid self.” 

Reborn smiled slightly, glad that Skull had such people in his life as he grew up. Soon, the two lapsed into small talk, recounting anecdotes from their years growing up and both men laughing at what anecdotes did get recounted, all the while they finished up eating dinner. 

 

It was almost an entire hour later with the two still sitting at the table, their bowls empty however as they finished off their stew some time earlier, but neither wanting to end the conversation they were having. What was the conversation about? Well … 

“I’m telling you, he screamed so high, he put a professional opera singer to shame!” Skull laughed. Reborn smirked, “I wish I could’ve seen Colonnello’s face when you dropped that chum on him, as that does sound pretty funny.” “Heh, hey, he deserved it for having Falco poop in my helmet! It took forever to get that cleaned Out of both my helmet _and_ my hair!” Skull said, partially huffy as he remembered that prank Colonnello pulled, and also still laughing as he continued remembering the look of utter disbelieving shock and revulsion on Colonnello’s face when he realized he just got chum poured on his head! 

Reborn smiled, happy that Skull was genuinely cheery at the moment. Looking over at the wall clock, he blinked, seeing that the time had gone and that they’d been there for almost over an hour and thirty minutes by then. “Well, time does fly by when you’re having a good conversation, it seems,” Reborn commented making Skull blink and look at the wall clock, too. Skull was surprised that they had talked for so long without either having realized the time. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Skull said, now feeling a bit uncertain. He and Reborn had been talking for so long without either realizing, but now that they realized, Skull didn’t know what to do now. Sure, the rest of the stew needed to be put away and the dishes washed, but what would he do after? Skull still wanted to hang out with Reborn for the rest of the day, the hours they still had left in the day anyways, before he had to go face sleeping alone when it was time for bed, as Skull had the excuse of having been drunk when he asked Reborn to sleep with him the night previous, so he couldn’t ask him to do so again, Skull thought. 

Skull jolted when he felt a tentative touch to his shoulder, causing him to flinch. He blinked when he saw Reborn drawing back quickly, the man looking rather anxious. “S-Sorry, I - I must have blanked out for a - a bit …” Skull said, trailing off as he took his empty bowl and got up from his seat, reaching to get Reborn’s own empty bowl too only for Reborn to stop him, grabbing ahold of it before Skull could as he got up from his own seat. 

“Skull, if you’re tired, you should go take a nap while I take care of getting things cleaned up,” Reborn told him, and Skull wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a flash of - of what? What was that emotion just now in Reborn’s eyes? “N-No, I’m good, I -” “Skull,” Reborn interrupted him, and Skull immediately clammed up, dropping his gaze down to the floor.  

Reborn regarded Skull for a minute. He didn’t know exactly what was wrong, just that Skull had become subdued by something, but what? He didn’t know, and that worried him. All he knew was, it most likely had something to do with the night previous, but that was all he had to go off of, and Reborn really did need to do some research in coping methods for victims, as he had been so far lucky to not trigger anything in regards to Skull’s still so fresh trauma. “Skull, there are some games in the upstairs hall closet if you don’t want to take a nap. Why don’t you look through them to see which ones you think we should play while I get things down here straightened out?” Reborn suggested. 

 

Anything to distract Skull from whatever was bothering him. 

 

It seemed to do the trick, as Skull looked up at him, looking genuinely interested in being able to look through those games. “A-Are you sure though? I mean, I can look through them later …” Skull said, still rather hesitant despise his interest in what kind of games Reborn had. 

Reborn smiled a small, reassuring smile to Skull, saying, “Yes, Skull. I’m very sure I can take care of getting things cleaned up and put away while you go look through those games.” Skull sighed as he reluctantly handed over his bowl to Reborn, who felt triumphant in getting Skull to do this. 

Yes, Reborn still felt like he was being an inconsiderate host to his guest, but it was more that Reborn didn’t think it was a good idea to let Skull believe he was obligated to help out while staying there at the house until the storm passed and the roads cleared. 

As Skull left to go have a look through the games in the upstairs hall closet, Reborn turned to take both bowls and the spoons that were in the bowls to the sink to get them and the ladle that was used earlier in ladling the stew into both bowls washed, dried, and put away, as well as put the leftover stew away for later. Reborn wondered as he began cleaning up, _‘What would Skull like to eat for breakfast tomorrow?’_ Because Reborn planned on being the one to cook.

 

* * *

 

It hadn’t taken that long for Reborn to get everything cleaned up and put away, nor did it take too long either for Skull to find some games that he thought would be fun for both him and Reborn to play. They had gone to the living room to play the few board games and a deck of cards that Skull had pulled from the hall closet, deciding that to be better a room to play the games in instead of where they were at a short while ago.

Reborn and Skull were surprised when they found their familiars there in the living room, both asleep on the loveseat, with Leon curled up and sleeping on top of Oodako’s head, the octopus the size of a plush toy and sleeping soundly himself. It was too cute a scene in both men’s opinion, and they made sure to keep quiet as best they could as to not wake their familiars as they took seats on the couch and set up their first game of the night, chess. 

Skull fist-pumped when he won the first round, what had Reborn rolling his eyes as the Cloudy stuntman gloated quietly at his victory. “I’ll be winning the next round,” Reborn said, smirking when Skull was done with his victorious fist-pumping. “We’ll see!” Skull replied, grinning widely. 

Several more rounds of chess had them tied up with one another, and so they went on playing the other games Skull brought down, the games including checkers, Monopoly, Risk (which Reborn briefly wondered at Skull’s mercilessness in the tactics he used in winning the short game of Risk they had played. Reborn then decided to never play the game again with Skull, that is, as an opponent), and Battleship (and Reborn really wanted to know just how it was Skull was able to locate his battleships so easily when he couldn’t with Skull’s! That was beyond frustrating!). 

They were all tied up still even after several rounds of the games Skull picked out - what had impressed Reborn as he hadn’t thought Skull would be able to tie with him on the games as much as he did - the only game left being cards, and there were several card games they could play with a standard deck of cards. The two decided they’d only be playing one intense round of poker as to decide who the victor was in the night’s round of playing games. 

“How about a deal?” Reborn said, smirking as he looked at Skull, and he saw Skull look up from his cards, frowning in confusion. “What kind of deal?” “When I win and you wear a lizard costume the next meeting we have,” Reborn said. Skull’s eyes lit up, and he said as he grinned, “And _when_ **I** win, you have to wear makeup for the next meeting we have!” Reborn’s eyes narrowed and he said as his smirk widened, “Oh, I will enjoy seeing you in that costume, Lackey.” Skull’s grin widened as well as he said as he looked back down at his cards, “Ha, I’ll savor the moment you walk into the meeting wearing makeup, Senpai!”

The round continued on for some time more before - “No!” Skull whined, seeing that he lost as Reborn laid down his hand, showing his cards, the winning cards. “I look forward to seeing you wearing that costume the next meeting, Skull.” Skull pouted at Reborn’s words before smiling, rolling his eyes. “That was pretty fun though,” Skull said. Reborn was smiling now, too, although his was smaller than Skull’s, and he said, “Yes, it was. Too bad though it’s getting late, as admittedly, you’re a good opponent to play against, Skull.”

Skull beamed with pride at Reborn’s words, although his smile twitched when he realized Reborn was right, it was indeed getting late, meaning it’d be soon time to go to bed and having to sleep, _having to endure that awful nightmare again_. “Yeah, it was fun …” Skull said, his words quiet as he lost his smile.  

“… Skull, what’s wrong?” Reborn asked. “Nothing!” Skull denied, defensive. _‘I’m pathetic is what’s wrong!’_ Skull wanted to so badly to say instead, but he couldn’t, because that would open a can of unwanted worms, he so truly believed. No, it would be better to just leave the issue be, what Skull thought, as Skull believed he couldn’t ask Reborn to stay with him for a second night, but he also believed that he was quite stupid for having Reborn stay with him the past night when they were the only two humans in the house, and there wasn’t anybody else around for miles! 

 Reborn regarded Skull for a second time, seeing how tense Skull was, just like before. What was it? What was it that had Skull so tensed up, _scared_? The only thing Reborn could think of was _Skull didn’t want to go to sleep_. Reborn then cursed himself as Skull’s earlier words from the night previous came back to him.

 

_“You’re pretty much stuck crashing without an escape when you’re sleeping,” Skull said, smiling sarcastically as he took in another breath of nicotine. “Reliving it, it’s like it’s a movie you’re watching, or more like a clipped scene you’re watching on YouTube, just a scene out of so many available to you. First half remembering outside myself was weird, but the second half, when I was experiencing it again … all those feelings, wanting nothing more to vomit and choke, just to escape him, you think it hurts worse when it’s on a rerun or when you’re going through it the first time? Because I’m not even sure …”_

 

Skull was reliving what had happened to him when he went to sleep. That was why he’d been so tensed up when Reborn made a comment regarding the time, and this was what had Reborn cursing himself mentally for as he should’ve been more aware of that. 

 

“Skull, if you’re afraid of going to sleep by yourself, I can always sleep in your room again tonight, or you could sleep in mine tonight, too, if you want to,” Reborn told him. Skull was startled by what Reborn said, looking at the man in shock before Skull dropped his head, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “I’d … like that, actually, either option, i-if you’re sure on the offer, that is.” Reborn gave him a reassuring look, what Skull saw when he lifted his gaze to look at Reborn. “I am sure, Skull.” 

“Okay,” Skull’s voice was quiet. “C-Could you sleep in m-m-my room again tonight, s-since there’s already that mattress and everything …”  Reborn smirked, “Of course, and how about you go get ready for bed while I put the games back in the upstairs hall closet?” “B-But I was the one to get them out!” Skull protested. “Ah, but I was the one to suggest you get them out, so I’ll be the one putting them away while you get ready for bed,” Reborn said. 

Skull stared at him, trying to figure out if this was some sort of trick or something by Reborn, but he couldn’t tell anything, so Skull just sighed, giving in. “Fine!” Skull said, feeling a bit miffed that he couldn’t help out _again_ in cleaning up!

Reborn chuckled, what only made Skull’s feeling miffed worsen, as he felt as if being mocked, if only just a little. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?” Reborn told Skull, and Skull nodded, sighing once again as he got off of the couch, going upstairs to change into his other pajamas, the set he always kept just in case something happened to his first overnight set. 

Changing into his Nightmare Before Christmas-themed pajamas, Skull got into bed, and true to his word, did Reborn come in some minutes later, dressed in another set of pajamas himself, this time they a solid black. Leon and Oodako scurried into the room behind Reborn before he shut the door, Leon curling up on Reborn’s pillow as Oodako got onto Skull’s bed, curling up by him. 

Reborn raised a brow at that, curious over something he felt he should’ve asked earlier. “Won’t Oodako dry out if he isn’t in his travel bowl?” “Not really,” Skull answered, smiling at his familiar while he spoke to Reborn. “Oodako can do well out of water so long as he’s got his mask on. He just doesn’t like being out of water so much, but guess earlier today wasn’t so good for him, huh?” 

Both men swore they heard Leon give the equivalent to a snort as Oodako gave the equivalent of what, had both Reborn and Skull laughing. 

“Alright, well, goodnight, Skull,” Reborn said as he under the blanket on the mattress he'd slept on before. “Goodnight, and … grazie, Renato, again,” Skull said, smiling softly at him before he laid back, closing his eyes and trying to sleep. 

 

Reborn wondered, why did his heart stutter a beat when Skull smiled like that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thoughts? The ending was sort of rushed, but I do hope you guys still enjoyed the chapter! ^^
> 
> Also, expect some more cuteness and silliness, too, in the story! I really can't write rape-related trauma and hope I can never do so for various many reasons. I just know psychological problems which unfortunately my headcanon but not really so headcanon for Skull is that he has ... 
> 
> I mean, how he gets treated in the series on top of also DYING in one occasion and getting shot in the head on a second occasion?! Psychological trauma for a life time and a half. 
> 
> Well, see you guys in the next chapter!!!


	5. Bonus Chapter: What's Twister without a Twist?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to Your_Perfect_Hell for figuring out which Arcobaleno is going to be shoving their foot so far down into their mouth it comes out their ass as they ruin the work Reborn put in, in helping Skull move past his insecurities! #w#' In hindsight, I guess it was pretty obvious it was going to be Colonnello ... Oh Well! ^^
> 
> Here’s the bonus chapter with their prompt: twister~!
> 
> (P.S. I apologize for my lackluster Twister scenes.)

The knocking that had started near to a full minute ago increased, becoming near slams to Reborn’s door, shaking it on its hinges. Said man growled as he pulled away from his lover’s neck, earning him a moan of disappointment as when Reborn pulled away from his neck, Skull instantaneously missed the loving attention he’d been receiving. 

Reborn shushed Skull with a quick kiss before leaving the bed, and already he was plotting murder if not “unfortunate yet lucky to walk away from accidents” for whoever had _dared_ to interrupt and so incessantly too his time with Skull! 

“What?!” He snapped, as by the time he crossed the distance from the bed to the door, he’d already gone past mere irritation to the far reaches of _“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just kill you now?!”_ Seeing the person that had dared interrupt his time was _Fon_ , out of every person in the Arcobaleno mansion that could have dared to interrupt them, Reborn’s frustrations grew. 

_‘Fon likely agreed to go and interrupt us, the damn cockblocking bastard! Fucking Fon in fucking cahoots with fucking Verde!’_ Reborn irrationally thought angrily, his scowl deepening and the glare in his eyes worsening. Fon continued smiling that smile of his, and he eyed Reborn with  critical eye, taking in the mess that was the World’s Greatest Hitman; from Reborn’s messy hair to the partially unbuttoned shirt he was wearing, his neck marked with smudges of purple lipstick, not to mention the man’s loose belt, it was _very_ clear he had come at a bad time. 

“Oh, was I interrupting?” Fon asked innocently after he was done giving Reborn a critical eye-over, and Reborn had to suppress the urge to throttle Fon, _even when he really wanted to_. “What is it you thought was so important to knock so incessantly about, Fon?!” Reborn snapped, a bit of a growl in his voice. 

Fon raised his hands up defensively, saying, “I’m only here to ask if you two would like to join us for a game downstairs. It _is_ game-night, after all, and Yuni does want us all together for those.” He then said as he gave Reborn a knowing look, “I can always come back later if you’re wanting to take care of your _“issue”_ first?” 

Reborn’s eye twitched, and he said, “Oh no, we’ll be downstairs in a minute or so.” “That’s great to hear! Alright then, I’ll see both you and Skull downstairs,” Fon replied before leaving, his smile having turned mischievous. 

Dark onyx eyes glared in the direction Fon left in before Reborn gave an aggravated sigh, closing the door with a harsh _*slam*_. 

"You shouldn't treat the door so badly," Skull said chidingly from where he was sitting on the bed. 

Reborn looked over, seeing Skull down on all fours, sitting on his knees but leaned forward, his hands placed out in front of him on the bed to help him balance. Skull's hair was more messy than usual, and his lipstick was smudged, crossing the outline of his lips and coating his pale skin. The dark purple button down he was wearing was unbuttoned fully, slipping off his shoulders and exposing the hickey-marked skin, the hickeys of various sizes acting as blossoms of color along on a pale canvas. 

Reborn mourned the loss of getting to continue ravishing his love for the time being, but unfortunately, stopping now was better than constantly being interrupted. 

"You heard the conversation," it wasn't a question. Skull rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I did. Still no reason to treat the door so badly. Just annihilate their asses at whatever game we're playing tonight." 

Reborn smirked, "Of course, what else would I be doing?" "You mean other than me?" Skull asked teasingly with a bit of a delirious giggle in his voice, and Reborn groaned at the not-so-much-of-a-joke joke. "That's too soon, Lackey, far too soon," he said, though he was smiling. 

"Well~! Let's get presentable!" Skull said, flipping off the bed and going into the top drawer of the nightstand, where he kept his makeup remover wipes. 

They had a game to get to and annihilate the others in as so they can get back to _their_ own "little game", after all~! 

 

* * *

 

"So, what's the game?" Skull asked as soon as he and Reborn got downstairs, the two men looking presentable, although they weren't hiding the marks they left on the other, much to the discomfort of Colonnello and indifference of Lal, the irritation of Verde and Viper, and the amusement of Fon and Yuni, too. 

"Twister!" Yuni said, gesturing to the named game that was out on the coffee table, yet to be set up. "It was this or The Lie Detector game," Lal said, looking ever so bored being there, considering the game of choice for the night was a "kid's game". 

"And I refuse to answer questions if I'm not getting paid first," Viper said from their spot on the couch. "And lie detectors are unable to pick up an accurate reading, so it would be pointless to play that game," Verde added, shaking his head in exasperation. 

"So yeah, we're playing Twister instead …" Colonnello said. He was still a bit awkward with the thought of Reborn and Skull together, but mostly because of how they got together in the first place. He resisted the urge to touch the small scars scratched deeply in the skin of his neck, a keepsake he wore openly as a reminder to watch himself with people, considering how he got them in the first place. 

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Skull asked excitedly, wanting to play. "Let's get it set up!" 

And so, set it up they did, although what took the longest time was deciding the order that everyone would be going in. 

They decided to make it a competition rather than all on the mat, so it was Lal vs Colonnello, Viper vs Fon, Verde vs Reborn, and the winner of the first round would face Skull, Yuni deciding to be the one manning the spinner. 

The first round flew by rather quickly, considering Colonnello was facing Lal in that round, and he had toppled when he found himself underneath her. 

The second round was difficult to call before a topple on who would win, as both Fon and Viper were keeping balanced, that is, up until Viper got left foot green, and they had to move their left foot underneath their right leg since they couldn't just flip over. That ended with them tripping as they slipped. 

The third match was rather surprising, as Reborn though did win it, this match took the longest, and there was some thought that Verde and his gangly long limbs would win him the match until Reborn toppled him at right hand red. 

Skull was so damn proud that Reborn put to good use those yoga lessons they'd been having! 

The next matches were then lined up as the winner of the first round vs Fon, and the winner of that round going against Reborn. 

Skull and Lal faced one another on the mat, Lal frowning as she thought of just a minute before she and Skull stood facing one another. Reborn had whispered something to Skull, what had caused Skull to look rather anxious but in a good way, and she was wondering what it was he had said to the Cloudy stuntman. 

"Ready to lose?" Skull quipped at her. Lal raised a brow, "You overestimate yourself." Skull's grin was unnervingly wide. 

"Left hand blue!" Yuni called out, and as Skull hadn't gone before in the previous hash of round, it was his turn first. He didn't crouch down to touch his hand to the blue circle, oh no. 

He did a fucking handstand on that thing! A fucking One-Handed Tree pose! 

"Nah, you're just underestimating me!" Skull laughed, and Lal's eye twitched. _'Fucking show off.'_

 

* * *

  

“How?!” Lal snapped at Skull quite angrily as soon as she picked herself up off of the mat, having toppled twenty minutes into the round. 

Lal had thought when before the first round started that it would be easy to beat Skull, that she could trip him up, knock him over, something, but no, no dice! He held strong against her, never once losing balance! It made no sense to her nor the others, however Reborn had more of a clue than the others as to why Skull had kept so well-balanced. 

“Duh, I’m a stuntman,” Skull said, smirking as he got up off of the mat himself, flipping back onto his hands before flipping once more to his feet. _‘He’s spending way too much time with Reborn,’_ everyone but Reborn thought, struck by the mixture of arrogance and mischief both in that smirk. 

When thinking about it, it did make sense. During the first round, after Lal had right foot red and simply moved her foot to the red circle in front of her, Skull had gotten “left foot yellow”, and he spun once on the spot of blue he was doing a handstand in, lowering the lower half of his body down to the row of yellow and placing his left foot on an adjacent spot, putting himself in a strange and rather uncomfortable-looking side-stand. 

The round had continued to where Lal was doing a strange bridge/crab, her left foot on green, her right foot on blue, her left hand on yellow, and her right hand stretched far to red, whereas Skull was with his right leg over his shoulder with that foot on yellow, his left arm outstretched to an adjacent green circle, his right arm stretching back to a blue circle, and his right leg outstretched and the foot of that leg on a red circle. 

It was plain to see Lal straining to keep up her balance, but Skull didn’t look winded at all! 

Lal had finally toppled when she had to somehow _flip_ her position, whereas when Skull, having his turn before her, had to do similar, had made it look so easy! 

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Colonnello asked dumbly. A facepalm had him and the others - excluding a glaring angrily Lal and a very smug Skull, who Lal was glaring at - to look over at Verde, who was groaning. 

“Stunt performers, truly exceptional stunt performers, to perform even half as many of the stunts they pull off must have the flexibility to do so, not just the skills advanced mathematicians would kill for,” Verde said. “And Skull is _very_ flexible,” Reborn said, smirking somewhat lecherously.

“That’s fucking gross, keep your sex life to yourself!” Colonnello snapped at Reborn, the man merely raising a brow. “Who said I was talking about _sex_? Although yes, Skull’s flexibility comes in handy there, too. No, I’m talking about the yoga classes he takes. You should see some of the ways he can contort his body!”

“… Well shit,” Lal said, finally at a loss as to what to say regarding Skull’s beating her. When put in that perspective, how Skull’s chosen career has helped him to be so flexible, she really couldn’t argue with the logic. Hate yes, but argue? No. Skull laughed and Fon switched out with Lal. 

Funnily enough, the second round lasted longer than the first round only by half the amount it took Skull to win round one, mostly considering the variation of the Formidable Face Pose Skull had gotten himself into, his left foot stretched out behind him and touching a blue circle, his right stretched a bit outwards and touching a red, his left hand outstretched to a yellow, and his body leaned on that side as he leaned and had his right hand stretching to touch a green circle. 

Fon had been able to keep up with Skull for until his maneuver, when he toppled at left foot blue, where he tried reaching over Skull to topple him over, only to freeze in doing so seeing Reborn’s yellow-eyed glare. 

Reborn was still very much so pissed off at Fon for interrupting his intimate time with Skull, and as Fon was moving his left foot from a red circle to a blue circle, well, he would’ve been on top of Skull, so the others couldn’t really blame Fon for slipping when he did and toppling. 

Fon and Skull both rose up off of the mat and straightened themselves out, and as Fon stepped off the mat as so Reborn could take his place on it as the final competitor of the game, the others were contemplating if it indeed was such a good idea to let Reborn and Skull go against one another in the final round. 

Reborn and Skull stared at one another, both standing across from the other as they stated. 

Because Skull had gone second in the second round, he was going first again. 

"Left hand yellow!" Yuni called out. Skull smiled at Reborn before doing a handstand on the yellow circle. Reborn smirked, knowing Skull's plan. 

"Left foot blue." Reborn placed his left foot on a blue circle, what was close to Skull. 

"Right foot red." Skull flipped down and did a diagonal bridge-like position, his left leg crossed over his right leg and his right arm behind his back as he smiled up at Reborn. 

"Right hand green." Reborn's smirk widened as he crouched down, moving his right hand to a green circle. He was in a bridge-like position now, too, somewhat on top of Skull. 

Skull's smile turned into a grin as he reached and kissed Reborn, Reborn kissing back, and the two toppled onto the mat, Skull now cradling Reborn's face in both of his hands as Reborn had a grip on Skull, one arm going around Skull's waist, and the palm of his other arm lying firm against the floor next to Skull's head.  

Lal's eye twitched, and she said as she turned, heading to leave the room and grab a beer from the kitchen, "Yeah, no. I'm not staying if you two are going to be doing _this_ , fucking worse than rabbits!" 

"I suppose this is payback for interrupting you both earlier?" Fon asked dryly. Reborn and Skull pulled away from one another, and Skull said as he answered with a bit of laughter in his voice, "I mean, we _did_ tell you guys when we got back we'd be preoccupied with other things!" 

Reborn said as he smirked rather manly, "So you have only yourself to blame~." 

" … Don't drink all the beer, Lal!" Colonnello called, turning and following his tsundere of a girlfriend into the kitchen. 

Verde made a disgruntled noise, the mad scientist of a Lightning heading back down to his lab, Verde not wishing to stay any longer. 

"Well, that was an interesting game! Maybe next time we should go with the Lie Detector game?" Yuni questioned, giggling as the thought of the next game night and what hijinks would ensue! "Well, I think I'm going to go to bed. _Buona notte_ !" She said, leaving hurriedly. Laughter followed her footsteps, and the remaining people in the room wondered if she saw this coming? Probably, maybe, most likely, _definitely_. 

"Mind if I accompany you back to the Varia headquarters?" Fon asked Viper as the two walked out of the room, completely ignoring now everything else. Viper's response was lost as the two went and left the room, although judging by the snort of laughter Skull gave, it must've been quite the Viper-like response. 

As the only two left in the living room, Reborn and Skull quickly got off of the mat, intending on going back to Reborn's room to continue what they were doing before they got interrupted. 

Skull did get a surprise when Reborn picked him up so suddenly, and Reborn asked Skull as he now held him like how a groom would his bride, "You normally aren’t one for doing such a thing in front of others, so why?” 

Skull, with his head leaned against Reborn’s shoulder as the man carried him back to the bedroom, said as he grinned widely, “Just because I’m not much for causing chaos like you are, doesn’t mean I don’t like making things interesting time from time!” 

Reborn chuckled at that answer, saying as they reached the room, “Well, it was an interesting game night, that’s for certain.” “Mhm~! As what’s Twister without a twist?” 

“A twist like my asking you to marry me?” “Yeah! Wait, what?!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed “What's Twister without a Twist?”, the bonus chapter with the prompt: “twister” by winner Your_Perfect_Hell! 
> 
> The ending was something that gave me a bit of trouble, considering I thought of multiple scenarios as to how to end the chapter but didn't know which to go with, so just went with, well, yeah, the ending I went with, lol! ^^ Sorry everybody if it wasn't all that good ... 
> 
> Also, Reborn getting blocked by the others when it comes to certain activities with Skull was just something I thought would be a good opening scene, lol. And yes, there were a few spoilers for the chapters to come in this bonus chapter, but I just thought it'd be great to put those details down in this chapter to not only make you guys wonder as to when the spoilers happened/are going to be happening at, but also to make the chapter itself go a bit more smoothly with references to the past as reflections the characters have as they look back on moments they can connect back from what's happening to what's already happened. 
> 
> Now regarding the regular chapters, I’m back at school and so juggling both school and work, not just schoolwork and my home life, which has been tiring me out more than I’d like for it too. Like, I'm fairly sure my blood has become sugar from the amount of soda and sweet tea I've been drinking just to stay awake! Now, I am, however, writing up as many chapters as I possibly can as so I can get them all out before it REALLY gets busy this semester! The next chapters to come will be two part chapters, a spoiler I can give, and then, well, what comes after really is pretty much the same in that again, two part chapters, but after that pretty much done with that (for a time until next time I want to hurry along the story but still put out lengthy chapters). Once I get out of the “return to school funk” I’ve got, which shouldn’t be too much longer for me to get out of, I’ll be uploading more chapters, that’s for sure! 
> 
> I hope life is treating everyone well, and if not well, at least decently! And if life is deciding to be a bitch, okay then, slap life in the face or heck, give it a punch to the face instead and make it go well or at least decently for you because hey, it’s your life! You deserve your life to go well if not decently! 
> 
> Peace out everybody! ^^ Until the return to our randomly updated chapters~!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any questions regarding He's With Me, come Ask or Message me on my Tumblr at cmoon-rabbit4


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